Barbara Garrison Selected as a 2010 American Chemical Society Fellow

Barbara Garrison, the Shapiro Professor of Chemistry and the head of the Department of Chemistry at Penn State, has been selected as a 2010 American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow. ACS Fellows are distinguished scientists who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and have made important contributions to the ACS. Earlier this year, the ACS honored Garrison by dedicating the April 2010 edition of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C to the celebration of her scientific career. The 2010 ACS Fellows were recognized on 23 August 2010 during the Society's national meeting in Boston.

Garrison is recognized as a pioneer in the use of computer modeling to simulate and understand chemical reactions on the surfaces of materials. She uses computer models to study the chemical reactions that rapid bursts of energy can produce on solid surfaces. These studies can be used to optimize the use of lasers for surgery, the mass spectrometry of biological molecules, and the process of thin-film deposition. Her models of the bombardment of solid surfaces with energetic particles have built a theoretical understanding of the complex events that lead to the ejection of molecules from surfaces. This understanding has contributed to advances in the interpretation of mass-spectrometry data for organic compounds and biological molecules and to the development of better techniques for the doping and depth profiling of semiconductors.

Garrison has received many honors in recognition of her research and teaching accomplishments, including the Penn State Eberly College of Science Distinguished Service Award in 2004, the American Chemical Society Francis P. Garvin-John M. Olin Medal in 1994, the Penn State Faculty Scholar Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Physical Sciences and Engineering in 1990, the American Chemical Society Akron Section Award in 1990, the American Vacuum Society Peter Mark Award in 1984, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 1984, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow Award in 1980, and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Award for Newly Appointed Young Faculty in Chemistry in 1979. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society and of the American Physical Society in 1994.

Garrison also has served the chemistry community at the national level in positions on advisory committees of the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Office of Naval Research. She has served the American Chemical Society Division of Physical Chemistry for the past decade in executive-committee and senior-level officer positions, including a term as the division's chair. She has been a member of the governing board of the Council of Chemical Research, a member of selection committees for American Chemical Society and American Physical Society awards, and a member of the editorial boards of several journals.

Garrison earned a doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley in 1975, and a bachelor's degree in physics at Arizona State University in 1971.