Dr. Jason G. Gillmore of the Hope College chemistry faculty has received national recognition through a 2014 Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

The awards honor faculty in the chemical sciences at undergraduate institutions based on accomplishment in scholarly research with undergraduates as well as a compelling commitment to teaching.  The foundation presents only seven of the awards each year.

“The Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award is a very prestigious and selective honor,” said Dr. William F. Polik, who is the Edward and Elizabeth Hofma Professor of Chemistry and chairperson of the department.  “It recognizes Dr. Gillmore’s exemplary record of involving undergraduate students in his research program and his outstanding contributions as an educator.”

It is the second time that Gillmore has received a major award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.  In 2004, as he started his first year at Hope, the foundation presented him with a Faculty Start-Up Award, recognition of faculty demonstrating promise as researchers at the beginning of their careers.

The Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award includes an unrestricted research grant of $60,000.  Gillmore will apply the award to his ongoing research program focused on synthetic and mechanistic organic photochemistry, work that he conducts collaboratively with Hope students.

Gillmore joined the Hope faculty as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2010.  Hope named him a Schaap Research Fellow in chemistry, providing support for his research program, in 2013.

Since coming to Hope, he has mentored 24 students in research during both the school year and summer.  His teaching is primarily in the organic chemistry course sequence.

In addition to his two awards from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, major external recognition and support of Gillmore’s work has included a Cottrell College Scholars Award from Research Corporation in 2006 and a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2010.  He has used the CAREER award, which at $549,000 remains the largest single-investigator grant ever at Hope, not only for his research but also for additional initiatives on behalf of the college’s science curriculum and to establish a series of workshops to help other young scientists from throughout the Midwest as they prepare for their own careers as scholar-educators.

He has had numerous articles concerning his research published in peer-reviewed journals, several with Hope students serving as co-authors.  He has also delivered invited talks around the country concerning his research, including as one of only two faculty from undergraduate institutions invited to serve as presenters during the 2010 NSF Physical Organic Young Investigators Workshop.

Prior to teaching at Hope, Gillmore held a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University.  He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Virginia Tech in 1996 and 1998 respectively, and his doctorate at the University of Rochester in 2003.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Inc., based in New York, was established in 1946 and is a memorial to Camille and Henry Dreyfus, two brothers who made major contributions in the research of materials used in the manufacture of photographic films. The foundation’s purpose is to advance the science of chemistry, chemical engineering and related sciences as a means of improving human relations and circumstances throughout the world. In broad terms, the foundation’s programs advance young faculty of early accomplishment, develop leadership in environmental chemistry, and enhance chemistry education and public interest in chemistry.

More about the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award program and a listing of this year’s recipients is available at dreyfus.org/awards/henry_dryfus_teacher_award.shtml