Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Spring 2002

Who's Who
Spring 2002
VOL.58, NO.3
Andy Barron Recognized for Research with Inaugural
Hackerman Award
I m probably the first faculty member to
get roses from Rick Smalley, says Andy
Barron, referring to the time six years ago
that he was considering coming to Rice
University from Harvard, where he was
an associate professor of chemistry. The
dozen red roses arrived at his home one
night with a card from Smalley and the
Center for Nanoscale Science and
Technology, stating, Wish you were here.
It wasn t the only reason Barron decided
to come to Rice, but it certainly got his
attention.
Barron, the Charles W. Duncan Jr. Welch
Chair of Chemistry and professor of
materials science, has just been named
Andy Barron the first recipient of the Norman
Hackerman Award in Chemical Research,
presented by the Welch Foundation, one of the nation s oldest and largest
sources of private funding for basic research in chemistry. The award,
which comes with a $100,000 prize, is designed to encourage and recognize
young chemical scientists in Texas for their research endeavors.
We are delighted that the Welch Foundation has recognized Dr. Barron s
outstanding work in inorganic chemistry in such a significant manner, says
Kathleen Matthews, dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences. That
this award honors Norman Hackerman, an emeritus faculty member in the
Department of Chemistry and president emeritus of the university, is a
double benefit.
Originally from a suburb just outside of London, Barron received his
undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Imperial College of Science
and Technology of the University of London. Before joining the faculty at
Harvard, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at
Austin one of the reasons he was happy to consider moving to Houston.
When you move to a new country, you tend to feel more at home in the
place you first moved to, he says. Having been a postdoc in Austin, I feel
more at home here than I did in Massachusetts. And I cannot stand snow.
Barron s research focuses on the applications of inorganic chemistry to the
materials science of aluminum, gallium, and indium and the fabrication of
micro- and nano-electronic devices based on molecular design. His research
group studies the relationships between the structure and bonding within a
compound or material and its physical and/or chemical properties.
In addition, he has developed a new environmentally benign way to make
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