Nov 30, 2005 - Claremont, Calif. -

Harvey Mudd College student James McDonough '07 received the highest award at the Sigma Xi Student Research Conference in Seattle, Wash., in November.

The son of Tom and Eileen McDonough of Gulf Breeze, Fla., McDonough is a chemistry major and won the award for his research project, "Nanoporous Alumina and Examination of a New Block Copolymer."

In addition to the Sigma Xi honor, McDonough presented his work at the American Chemical Society meeting in March 2005, published a manuscript with HMC professor of Chemistry Kerry Karukstis in Langmuir* (the American Chemical Society's Journal of Surfaces and Colloids) and spent last summer at a National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at Cornell University.

"Giving our students an early start in research certainly enables them to take advantage of many opportunities to grow professionally," Karukstis said of McDonough and his cohort.

After HMC, McDonough plans to attend graduate school in materials chemistry. He explains: "Materials science is fascinating, applicable to everyday life, and in my mind contains many of the building blocks for the next major revolutions in science.

"The rigor of the college prepared me for the grind associated with being in a top-notch, cutting-edge research environment. The widely accepting environment found at Mudd and the tremendous coursework preparation I have had at the college have enabled me to develop very solid friendships, both professionally and personally."

* K. K. Karukstis and J. R. McDonough*, "Characterization of the Aggregates of N-Alkyl-N-Methylpyrrolidinium Bromide Surfactants in Aqueous Solution", Langmuir 21 5716-5721 (2005)

Text of the news release by Sigma Xi:

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE STUDENT WINS FIRST PLACE AWARD AT SIGMA XI STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE IN SEATTLE

Research Triangle Park, NC -- Thirty prizes were awarded to science and engineering students for outstanding research presentations Nov. 4-5 at the 2005 Sigma Xi Student Research Conference in Seattle.

Harvey Mudd College student James McDonough received a first place award of $175 for his interdisciplinary project in the fields of chemistry and engineering, titled Nanoporous Alumina and Examination of a New Block Copolymer.

Students were recognized at an awards session with a certificate and an invitation to join Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.

More than 200 undergraduate and graduate students from North America and abroad participated in the annual event, which showcases the best in student science and engineering research. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was a major sponsor of the conference.

In addition to making presentations, students attended career development workshops and participated in mentoring and networking activities, panel discussions, and other events. They also heard talks by celebrated oceanographer Sylvia Earle and C++ computer language inventor Bjarne Stroustrup, both affiliated with Texas A&M University.

Sigma Xi, the conference host, is the international honor society of research scientists and engineers, with more than 500 chapters in North America and around the world. Over the years, more than 200 Sigma Xi members have received the Nobel Prize.

A number of members, who were attending the society's annual meeting in Seattle, served as judges for the student research conference.

Publisher of American Scientist magazine, Sigma Xi is a nonprofit organization that sponsors a variety of programs aimed at promoting and supporting science and engineering.

Each year the society awards hundreds of grants to undergraduate and graduate students in North America and overseas through its Grants-in-Aid of Research program, for which the application deadlines are March 15 and October 15 annually. Visit http://www.sigmaxi.org/ for details.