Joel Rosenthal, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Delaware, has been selected by the University’s Francis Alison Society to receive the 2014 Gerard J. Mangone Young Scholars Award.
The award recognizes promising and accomplished young faculty. The recipient is chosen by fellow faculty members who have received the Francis Alison Award, the University’s highest competitive faculty honor.
“Prof. Rosenthal is a scholar par excellence and is most deserving of the Mangone Young Scholar award,” said Donald L. Sparks, S. Hallock du Pont Chair in Plant and Soil Sciences and chair of the Francis Alison Society. “He is a rising star in his field, having been the recipient of major research accolades, and is equally accomplished as a dedicated teacher and mentor. We are most fortunate to have him as a faculty member at the University of Delaware.”
Rosenthal’s research group is active in the fields of energy, catalysis, chemical synthesis, electrochemistry and photochemistry. His research program has made important breakthroughs in the field of carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion, with implications for alternative fuel production and renewable energy.
He is also a faculty member of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology at UD and is a faculty trainer for the University’s Chemistry Biology Interface Program.
“His research program has made significant innovations … and continues to make advancements on a fast, upward trajectory,” Murray V. Johnston, professor and department chair, said in a letter of support for the Mangone award.
“Prof. Rosenthal has established a vibrant and productive research program at the University of Delaware. In his first four years at UD, his group has already published 14 peer-reviewed publications, with several others under review or in preparation.”
Rosenthal joined the UD faculty in 2010 after serving as a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his doctorate in inorganic chemistry. He has since received numerous awards and grants recognizing his research accomplishments and his mentorship of students.
Most recently, Rosenthal received a highly competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Award to support his research in renewable energy and molecular energy conversion.
In addition to that research, the NSF award includes an outreach component to teach and engage both University and high school students in chemistry and energy science. The UD portion of the project involves revamping the inorganic chemistry laboratory experience for chemistry majors, adding electrochemistry to the lab course, while the other portion provides for summer research opportunities for two high school students in Rosenthal’s lab.
Also this year, Rosenthal was named an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and received an Undergraduate Research Mentor Award from the American Chemical Society’s inorganic chemistry division. In 2013, he was named a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Environmental Chemistry Mentor, in 2012 he received a DuPont Young Professor Award, and in 2011 he was recognized with a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
Calling him “an incredibly enthusiastic and dedicated young scientist,” Johnston said: “I expect that Prof. Rosenthal will continue his track record of innovation and research excellence, as he is bright, inquisitive and possesses the dedication required to make an impact in the fields of catalysis and renewable energy conversion.”
About the award
The Mangone Young Scholars Award is named in honor of the late Gerard J. Mangone, who joined the UD faculty in 1972 and created the UD Center for the Study of Marine Policy, renamed in his honor in 2003.
Dr. Mangone, University Research Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, received the Francis Alison Award in 1983. In 2010, he received an honorary degree from UD. He died on July 27, 2011.
