Michelle C Chang, Professor at the University of California, Berkeley (USA), receives the Dr Margaret Faul Award for Women in Chemistry. An international panel of judges acknowledges her successful and diverse research that has a far-reaching impact on medicine, energy and the environment.
This is the third time that the award sponsored by Science of Synthesis, which comes with a cash prize of 5,000 euros, has been given for outstanding achievements by young female chemists. The award ceremony will take place at the 23rd European Symposium on Organic Chemistry (ESOC 2023) in Ghent, Belgium.
Michelle Chang is an outstanding scientist in the field of organic chemistry. She has made seminal contributions across broad areas of biosynthesis and biocatalysts, where she has developed synthetic methods to advance the preparation of halogenated natural products of medicinal importance and biomass conversion for energy and environmental science. Her findings are being applied to the development of biofuels and pharmaceuticals.
"Again this year, the selection committee had many strong nominations and we are excited about the importance placed on the award within the research community. We are delighted to recognize Michelle Chang with the 2023 award. Her work is advancing sustainable energy solutions and laying the groundwork for new medicines and, in turn, improved healthcare. She is an outstanding scientist and a role model for young chemists," said the co-chairs of the selection committee, Dr Margaret Faul and Professor Dr Alois Fürstner. Professor Fürstner (Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim, Germany) is the editor-in-chief and Dr Faul (Vice President, Process Development, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA) a member of the editorial board of Science of Synthesis.
The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 at 17:00 at the European Symposium on Organic Chemistry (ESOC 2023) in Ghent. It will be followed by the lecture "Enzymatic Approaches to New Chemistry" by Michelle Chang.
After studying chemistry/biochemistry and French literature as an undergraduate at the University of California, San Diego, Michelle Chang completed her PhD in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004. Following postdoctoral work with Prof. Jay D. Keasling, she began her independent research career at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2007, achieving promotion to Full Professor in 2018. Her research program is focused on the study of biosynthetic and biocatalytic pathways and their application to solve problems in synthetic organic and environmental chemistry.
The prize is awarded to a young woman of any nationality within the first 15 years of her independent career in chemical research in recognition of the candidate’s outstanding achievements in organic chemistry, broadly defined to include medicinal, biological, organometallic, or materials chemistry, and related areas. The award is presented every two years and comes with a price money of 5,000€. For more information see: https://
