Erin Gray Receives American Chemical Society’s Undergraduate New Investigator Grant The assistant professor of chemistry will utilize the funds to conduct fundamental research in organic chemistry.

By Brian Laubscher
September 11, 2024

Erin Gray, assistant professor of chemistry at Washington and Lee University, has been awarded the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Undergraduate New Investigator Grant (UNI) through the organization’s Petroleum Research Fund.

Gray will receive a total award of $55,000 over two years to perform research aimed at discovering new methods to construct carbon-nitrogen bonds in organic molecules.

“I am honored to receive this recognition from the broader chemistry community that validates the significance of the reactivity we are investigating,” said Gray. “This grant will undoubtedly impact my independent scientific career and research program. The funding I received from the UNI grant will shape the trajectory of our studies and allow me to provide more W&L students with the opportunity to conduct fundamental research in organic chemistry.”

The UNI grant is intended to fund research for new tenure-track faculty scientists and engineers at undergraduate research institutions and to provide financial incentives for students at those institutions to become involved in research activities leading to employment or continued study in graduate school. Gray will apply 49% of the grant to fund stipends for W&L students to conduct summer research.

“Students play an integral part in my research program and are involved in all aspects of the project, including conducting experiments, collecting data and planning next steps,” said Gray. “Our research will design new ways to generative reactive intermediates (iminyl radicals) and study how these species behave. Nitrogen-containing compounds are everywhere (nature, agrochemicals, medicines, corrosion inhibitors, organic materials), so expanding the toolkit of chemical reactions has the potential to make the manufacture of important compounds more sustainable, cost-effective and efficient.”

As the recipient of the UNI grant, Gray can apply for an additional $25,000 in supplemental funds to enhance her research activities and engagement on a departmental level. She has applied for these additional funds, seeking to purchase a fluorescence spectrophotometer that will be useful in training students in both research programs and lab courses. Gray will learn the results of her supplemental grant request in October. 

Gray has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2019 and serves on the University Library Committee. She earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Furman University and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Princeton University. She also served as a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University.

The ACS is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. It is one of the world’s largest scientific organizations with a mission to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Petroleum Research Fund is an endowed fund, managed by the ACS, that supports fundamental research directly related to petroleum or fossil fuels at nonprofit institutions in the United States and other countries. First approved in 1953, the fund awards close to $20 million per year to roughly 180 investigators. This serves as seed money, enabling investigators to initiate a new research direction.

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