David V. Dearden Receives Award

On November 13, 2014, Dr. Dearden was presented with the Reed M. Izatt & James J. Christensen Faculty Excellence in Research Award.  After receiving the award, he presented a lecture titled "Supramolecular Chemistry in the Gas Phase."

This award, given every two years and recognizes the research accomplishments of a faculty member in the BYU Department of Chemistry and Biochemsitry. Recent recipients include Dr. Adam T. Woolley (2012), Dr. Paul B. Savage (2010) and Dr. Milton L. Lee (2008).

The founders, Reed M. Izatt and the late James J. Christensen, worked together at BYU for many years. They organized the first symposium on macrocyclic compounds at BYU, which has now developed into a worldwide conference. They also started a company, IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc., that carries out worldwide difficult and highly selective metal separations on a commercial scale.

Izatt, who was Dearden's mentor during his undergraduate studies at BYU, presented the award. Dearden is author or co-author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications and more than 170 scientific presentations. He is the 1993 winner of the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award and has been awarded a BYU Alcuin Fellowship (for teaching in undergraduate general education) twice. His current research focuses primarily on two areas. He is investigating the structure and reactivity of host-guest complexes of cucurbit[n]urils, pumpkin-shaped molecules that can function as some of the smallest imaginable containers for atoms and small molecules. His area involves new methods for obtaining ion-neutral collision cross sections using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. 

The Faculty Excellence in Research Award is made possible by the generous donations of family members, scientific associates, and former students of Reed M. Izatt and James J. Christensen.