When the Department of Chemistry celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2000, a history of the Department and its many great scientific achievements was prepared. It was also decided that it was time to begin to recognize those alumni whose contributions to the field of chemistry has placed great honor on the Department and the University. Thus the biennial Distinguished Alumni Award was begun.
On Friday, October 5, and Saturday, October 6, 2018, we honored four chemistry alumni by presenting them with the 2018 Department of Chemistry Distinguished Alumni Award. Their accomplishments and contributions are a testament to their talents, and to the 
education and training that they have received at the University of Pittsburgh. We were happy to celebrate this occasion with Charles W. Gardner (PhD 1984), Heather Lynn Juzwa (BS 2000), Nicholas A. Nystrom (PhD 1992), and Yun-Dong Wu (PhD 1986).
The celebration began on Friday afternoon with a roundtable “Pathways to Success” discussion. This is an 
opportunity for the awardees to motivate, inspire, and inform graduate and postdoctoral students. A tour of the Chemistry buildings followed showcasing our new renovations and infrastructure improvements. The Awards Dinner took place on Friday evening at 6 pm, followed by the awards presentation.
Our senior undergraduates had the opportunity to meet the awardees at the Celebrate Success! breakfast on Saturday morning at 9:00 AM.
We applaud the creativity, leadership, and accomplishments of our esteemed graduates!
For current and past recipient profiles, please visit our archive list.