Howland chemist will receive award

Dr. Janet Del Bene has published more than 200 scientific papers.

StAff Report

YOUNGSTOWN — Dr. Janet E. Del Bene of Howland, retired professor of chemistry at Youngstown State University, will receive the prestigious 2008 Morley Medal from the Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society at a ceremony May 21 in Cleveland.

Del Bene, who earned bachelor’s degrees in education and chemistry from YSU before receiving a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1968, is the first woman to receive the award.

She will be honored with the medal, a monetary prize and a special lectureship, the Edward W. Morley Lecture, May 21 at Case Western Reserve University

The award, established in 1966, is given annually to a chemist for outstanding contributions to chemistry made while residing in an area within a 250-mile radius of Cleveland. The award’s list of recipients includes two Nobel Laureates.

Del Bene, a native of Girard and a 1957 graduate of Ursuline High School, retired from YSU in 1999.

She is a theoretical chemist who is internationally recognized as an expert in the field of hydrogen bonding.

She may have retired from teaching, but she hasn’t retired from her scientific research. She continues her work in quantum theoretical chemistry.

She’s also made time to sharpen her golf game, playing the piano and organ and traveling.

She is the author or co-author of more than 200 scientific papers and chapters in books and has been an invited speaker at national and international meetings. Reaching the milestone of 200 publications brought Del Bene a special recognition reception at YSU last fall.

Her first published paper appeared in The Journal of chemical Physics in 1968. Her 200th was published last year in Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry.

Since her retirement, she has also been a visiting professor at the University of Sydney, Australia, the University of Madrid and the University of Florida. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 2002, she received the triennial Iota Sigma Pi Honorary Lifetime Member Award in recognition of her accomplishments in research. In 2003, she received YSU’s Heritage Award and the Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Externally Supported Research.