By Whitney Harder

(March 10, 2015) — Showcasing undergraduate research in the chemical sciences from across the Commonwealth and surrounding states, the University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry will hold its annual Regional Poster Competition Friday, April 17, in combination with its annual Lyle Dawson Lecture, and is accepting submissions for abstracts for the competition until April 10.

The competition, which does not require a registration fee, provides an opportunity for undergraduates to share their chemistry research, network with other undergraduate researchers in the region, and compete for monetary prizes.

First prize winners of the competition will be awarded $300, second prize winners will be awarded $200, and three students awarded honorable mentions will receive $100.

To submit an abstract, visit https://chem.as.uky.edu/rpc-abstract-submission. Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by a member of the Department of Chemistry.

In addition to many UK undergraduates, students from across Kentucky and other states have presented at the competition and won top prizes. Recent winners of the competition include students from UK, Berea College, Centre College, Marshall University, Transylvania University, and Western Kentucky University.

This year, participants will also have the opportunity to attend the annual Lyle Dawson Lecture, featuring world-class chemical research and commemorating Lyle Ramsey Dawson, former Department of Chemistry professor and chair. Geoffrey Coates, chemist and Cornell University professor, will deliver the 2015 lecture, "New Polymers from Old Monomers: Advances Enabled through Catalyst Design and Discovery," at 4 p.m., April 17.

Coates is an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, and has received awards from the American Chemical Society, National Science Foundation, MIT Technology Review Magazine, Research Corporation, and many other organizations. In 2011 he was identified by Thomson Reuters as one of the world’s top 100 chemists on the basis of the impact of his scientific research, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Coates also received the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award and the DSM Performance Materials Award in 2012.

The Dawson Lecture is free and open to the public. The endowment of the lecture series is supported by Lyle Dawson’s daughter, Venita Dawson Curry.

For more information about the Department of Chemistry's Regional Poster Competition, visit https://chem.as.uky.edu/regional-poster-session. For more information about the Lyle Dawson Lecture, visit https://chem.as.uky.edu/lyle-dawson-lecture-series.