Paul Chirik wins Packard science and engineering five-year award

Chirik

Paul J. Chirik, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell, is a recipient of a David and Lucile Packard Foundation fellowship in science and engineering. Chirik will receive an unrestricted research grant of $625,000 over five years.

Chirik was one of 16 promising young scientific researchers across the United States to be named a fellow this year. The Packard Foundation is a private, family foundation created by the late David Packard, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard Co., and his late wife in 1964.

Before joining the Cornell faculty in 2001, Chirik spent a year as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with chemistry professor Christopher Cummins, a Cornell alumnus. Chirik obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in 2000 and his B.S. in chemistry at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1995.

Chirik's research group is investigating the use of transition metal complexes to expand the scope of synthetic chemistry to include molecules that usually do not participate in chemical reactions. In addition to uncovering the basic chemical principles that control transition metal reactivity, these studies also could provide new building blocks for the construction of more complex molecules. Chirik's group recently discovered a new method for activating atmospheric nitrogen with early transition metals, such as zirconium. Ultimately he hopes to use this approach to prepare a range of nitrogen-containing molecules that could be used as pharmaceuticals, fuels and dyes.

The researchers also have been exploring the chemistry of iron to replace more toxic and expensive heavy metals such as platinum and rhodium in chemical synthesis. These methods could eventually lead to more environmentally benign catalytic reactions that can be used for the preparation of a range of fine chemicals and consumer goods.

Chirik's previous awards include a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program grant, an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund starter grant and a Cottrell Scholarship from Research Corp.