UO chemist is among 2011 DuPont Young Professors

Image of Shannon BoettcherEUGENE, Ore. -- (June 16, 2011) -- Shannon Boettcher, professor of chemistry and member of the University of Oregon Materials Science Institute, is among the 18 early career scientists selected worldwide to the 2011 class of DuPont Young Professors.

Boettcher, who joined the chemistry department in 2010, studies solar energy conversion. Specifically he is pursuing the development of materials that will not only convert sunlight into electricity but also store reserves of energy for later use. DuPont cited Boettcher for his research on "nanostructured oxides designed for solar water splitting."

Each of the selected researchers receives $75,000 in three annual grants of $25,000. The grants, totaling $1.3 million for the 2011 class, may be used to obtain matching funds through the National Science Foundation or other organizations. This year marks the 43rd year of the awards, which are sponsored by the DuPont Fellows Forum. To date, 548 young professors from the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and Africa have received some $48 million in grants.

The DuPont Young Professor program, which began in 1967, is designed to provide start-up assistance to promising young and untenured research faculty working in areas of interest to DuPont's long-term business. Work by this year's class focuses on solar energy, biomolecular sciences, polymer science, nanotechnology, entomology, chemistry, chemical engineering, statistics, animal biology and life sciences.

Boettcher, a 1998 graduate of Creswell High School, earned a bachelor's degree in 2003 from the UO, where he was a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. As a student the UO's Robert D. Clark Honors College, he received the college's highest scholarship recognition -- the President's Award -- for his undergraduate thesis. Boettcher earned a doctorate in 2008 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Before returning to the UO to join the faculty, he completed postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology.

DuPont, a science-based products and services company with corporate headquaters in Wilmington, Del., was founded in 1802 and operates in more than 90 countries.

Media Contact: Jim Barlow, director of science and research communications, 541-346-3481, jebarlow@uoregon.edu