Cornell chemists Roald Hoffmann, Geoffrey Coates, Garnet Chan and Paul Chirik have received awards from the American Chemical Society for outstanding contributions to the field.

Hoffmann, the 1981 Nobel Laureate in chemistry (with Kenichi Fukui) for his theoretical work determining the course of chemical reactions, and Cornell's Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor Emeritus of Humane Letters, received the organization's 2009 James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award For Interpreting Chemistry For The Public.

An outspoken advocate of science education and outreach, Hoffmann is author of more than 500 scientific papers, dozens of books, essays, plays and poetry aimed at inspiring and educating the public about chemistry.

"Ignorance of science is an alienating process, in the psychological sense -- we do not understand what science has wrought around us, and we fear what we do not understand," Hoffmann told Chemical and Engineering News in February. "[Also], the workings of a democratic society, our approximations of it, require some knowledge of science for the responsible citizen. And … I think chemistry is just plain fun."

Coates, Cornell's first Tisch University Professor, received the society's 2009 Award for Affordable Green Chemistry. Coates' research focuses on developing biodegradable plastics and other polymers from renewable sources and waste products -- including carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Coates is co-founder (with Scott Allen and Tony Eisenhut) of Novomer Inc., a successful company based on his research.

"[Coates] is one of our very best people, one of the intellectual leaders on campus in the physical sciences," said Peter Lepage, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in September. "The Coates Group brings critical contributions to sustainability research."

For his work developing new methods in quantum chemistry, Chan received the society's 2009 Award in Pure Chemistry, an award Hoffmann, received 41 years ago.

An assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, Chan is described by Hoffmann as "the leader and driver of this field." A theorist, he is interested in the description of complex quantum processes that involve the correlated motions of electrons. A key feature of Chan's work has been the incorporation of renormalization group theory -- an idea that originated with Ken Wilson (a Cornell alumnus and Nobel laureate) and was developed into quantum chemistry.

Chan's current interests include energy transfer in conjugated organic systems, in particular organic photovoltaics; the electronic structure of multi-center transition metal compounds; and strongly correlated quantum lattice models.

Chirik, the Peter J.W. Debye Professor of Chemistry, received the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award for excellence in organic chemistry.

Chirik works at the intersection of the traditional disciplines of organic and inorganic chemistry, exploring energy-efficient chemical transformations that reduce fossil fuel dependencies and minimize waste. He and his group have developed inexpensive and environmentally compatible iron catalysts to replace toxic heavy metals used in pharmaceutical and fine chemical synthesis. Chirik also has a long-standing interest in the reduction of atmospheric nitrogen and has discovered new methods to synthesize ammonia under mild conditions.