Clara Immerwahr Award 2016

Clara Immerwahr Award 2016

Author: ChemViews (Photo: Ⓒ UniCat, TU Berlin)

Dr. Rebecca Melen, Cardiff University, UK, has been awarded the Clara Immerwahr Award for her contributions to the field of main group elements in catalysis. The prize recognizes her work on how main group elements can be used to drive reactions that are normally catalyzed by heavier transition metal catalysts. The award was presented at a public ceremony at the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany, on February 12, 2016.

Since its launch in 2011, the annual Clara Immerwahr Award has honored a young female scientist at an early stage of their career for outstanding achievements in catalysis research. The award is presented by the Cluster of Excellence UniCat (Unifying Concepts in Catalysis), TU Berlin, and includes 15,000 € of financial support for a research stay at UniCat.

Rebecca Melen studied chemistry at Trent College, Nottingham, UK, and Magdalene College, Cambridge, UK, where she received her Ph.D. in 2012 under the supervision of Dominic Wright. She then joined Doug Stephan at the University of Toronto, Canada, for postdoctoral research. In 2013, Dr. Melen was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, which allowed her to work with Lutz Gade in Heidelberg, Germany. In 2014, she joined the University of Cardiff, UK, as Lecturer. Among other honors, Dr. Melen has received the 2013 RSC Dalton Young Researcher Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the 2014 European Young Researcher Award from EuroScience.

Dr. Melen’s research focuses on the use of main group Lewis acids in organic synthesis and catalysis. Her interests include catalyst design by tuning the steric and electronic effects of the Lewis acid, applications in organic synthesis and catalytic processes, and mechanistic studies to determine reaction pathways using combinations of experimental and theoretical methods.


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