The inaugural class of American Chemical Society (ACS) fellows includes Cornell Professors Roald Hoffmann, Christopher Ober and Harold Scheraga, whom the society has cited with "true excellence in their contributions to the chemical enterprise."

Comprising more than 154,000 members, the ACS is the world's largest scientific society and represents professionals in all chemistry-related areas of study. Its first class of 162 fellows, who come from fields ranging from high school teaching to entrepreneurship, academia and government service, will be recognized at an Aug. 17 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Hoffmann, the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor Emeritus of Humane Letters and 1981 Nobel laureate, focuses his research on the electronic structure of stable and unstable molecules across the periodic table, and of transition states and reactions. The ACS has honored Hoffmann with numerous awards throughout his career, including one earlier this year for his role as an advocate of science education and outreach.

Ober, the Francis Bard Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and interim dean of the College of Engineering, studies polymers, lithographic materials for microelectronics and biotechnology, and new environmentally and biologically friendly materials. He was honored by the ACS in 2006 with an award in applied polymer science.

Scheraga, the George W. and Grace L. Todd Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, is the author or co-author of more than 1,200 scientific research papers. Scheraga's many contributions include pioneering experimental and theoretical research on the interactions involved in protein folding in a water environment, for which he has received numerous ACS and other awards, the latest being the ACS Goodman Award in Biopolymers, to be awarded at an ACS symposium on Aug. 17.