Dr. Lisa F. Szczepura has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Szczepura received her doctoral degree from State University of New York at Buffalo under the supervision of Professor Kenneth Takeuchi. Dr. Szczepura will continue research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the sponsorship of Professor Thomas Rauchfuss. Her postdoctoral research will target transition metal cluster chemistry and the coordination chemistry of sulfur. She will investigate the hydrodesulfurization and hydrogenation reactivity of Mo6S8L6 clusters, where L is a monodentate phosphine or nitrogen donor ligand. The work is important to the systematic development of ligands for transition metal cluster complexes through the application of Werner coordination chemistry principles. The Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Chemistry Program is viewed as an important infrastructural program designed to broaden the knowledge and experience of new Ph. D.s and attract them into meaningful careers in contemporary chemical research and teaching.
