Giving

The Al Baumstark Award in Chemistry, named after our former chair of 18 years, honors the department’s philosophy of increasing student diversity in the field of chemistry. The award was developed to support women and minority students who are pursuing doctoral degrees in chemistry.  The fellowship is normally awarded each fall semester to one senior-level doctoral candidate per year.  A nominee committee solicits nominations from department faculty and makes final selections with input from the Chemistry Department chair. The award varies in amount and supplements Ph.D. stipends. Funding for the fellowship is made available through donations and lifelong endowments.

Professor Baumstark has always been a champion of research experience for undergraduate students, especially students who would like to go to graduate school. Funds in the operating account of the endowment will provide scholarships with a modest stipend to undergraduate junior and senior chemistry majors in the College of Arts and Sciences to conduct research. If you wish to donate to the operating fund (021244S) which gives more flexibility on immediate use instead of endowment fund (021244), mailed donation must be used instead of donation via weblink.

The Boykin Fellowship, named for our former chair and current Regents Professor Emeritus, is given each year to a top Ph.D. student working in medicinal chemistry/drug synthesis. Former awardees include new assistant professor Dr. Donald Hamelberg, a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Cancer Scientist and one of the country’s brightest prospects in computational chemistry. The Boykin Fellowship is able to supplement Ph.D. stipends.

This fund supports our very successful seminar program which brings scholars from around the world to campus to give talks and meet with faculty and students. It also provides support for the Chemistry Awards program that recognizes students for excellence in our introductory chemistry laboratory courses as well as our best majors and our best graduate students. The fund gives the department flexibility in recruiting students and has been instrumental in strengthening the quality of our faculty and our nationally and internationally recognized research programs.

Another of the department’s important graduate student fellowships is in honor of a long-time faculty member who taught, entertained and mentored countless students, many of whom went on to distinguished medical careers. Once fully endowed, the Pendergrast Fellowship will provide a stipend supplement to a Ph.D. student specializing in drug discovery, biochemistry and related areas.