Stevens professor wins American Chemical Society award for work with minoirty students

HOBOKEN, N.J. – The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced that Ajay K. Bose of Stevens Institute of Technology is the 1999 recipient of the annual ACS Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences. The award is sponsored by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. and will be presented to the professor during the ACS’ national meeting in Anaheim, California, on March 23, 1999.

"Ajay Bose has truly improved the lives of generations of students by giving them incredible opportunities to pursue careers in the sciences and engineering, which might not normally be available to them," said Stevens President Harold J. Raveche. "Ajay has encouraged and enabled them to conduct research at Stevens, medical colleges and leading pharmaceutical companies. The students have truly gained the hands-on experience and the knowledge they need for excellence in their future professions. I join the American Chemical Society in recognizing Ajay’s outstanding career and contributions to education, science and research."

The Society’s award recognizes individuals who have significantly stimulated or fostered the interest of students, especially minority and/or economically disadvantaged students, in chemistry or chemical engineering, and/or increasing their appreciation of chemistry as the central science. The award consists of $5,000 and a certificate. In addition, a grant of $10,000 will be awarded to Stevens, towards its programs meeting the objectives of the award.

The professor, who has been a faculty member for almost 40 years at the leading engineering and applied sciences university, founded and directs the Undergraduate Projects in Technology and Medicine (UPTAM) summer research program, which since 1972, has helped more than 400 talented students to pursue careers in medicine and biosciences. UPTAM and its pre-college version, Pre-UPTAM, attract many students from diverse ethnic groups and economically disadvantaged families. ACS’ Project SEED is one of several sponsors of Pre-UPTAM. Schering-Plough Corporation, New York Cardiac Center, Wyeth Ayerst Research and Merck & Company are several of the corporate sponsors of UPTAM.

Bose has earned an international reputation in beta-lactam synthesis, microwave-assisted chemistry, and in novel applications of instrumentation to organic chemistry. He has received many research awards including the Ranbaxy Science Foundation Award in the field of medicinal chemistry in 1997.

Bose’s work with disadvantaged students includes various programs and projects for young students and their teachers. "Equipment of the Month Club: Innovation for Inner City School Laboratories," was a project that was successfully tested in neighboring public schools districts where more than 90 percent of the students belong to underrepresented minority groups.

"Alliance for Science Education," funded by the New Jersey Department of Education, was a collaborative program with pharmaceutical companies to provide intensive hands-on training to science teachers in inner city schools. The New Jersey State Senate lauded Bose for his contributions to science and education, in particular, for the academic alliance between Stevens and inner city schools, and acknowledged his contributions with a resolution in 1992.

In 1995, Bose co-directed the Careers for Minority Students program from a $250,000 National Science Foundation. The program enabled minority students to receive academic year pre-research training and to spend their summers in full time research in chemistry and biology. This program, under the new name of Project RISE (Research Initiation for Science Excellence), involved undergraduate from Stevens and high schools students from neighboring urban schools.

Bose, a professor of Chemistry at Stevens, is now making valuable contributions to Microwave-induced Organic Reaction Enhancement (MORE) chemistry techniques that can be used for research as well as for inexpensive laboratory training. Kemtec Educational Corporation has developed a Microwave Instant Labä - the Bunsen Burner of the 21st Centuryä for high schools based on these techniques.

The professor have directed the research of more than 32 doctoral students and trained some 60 visiting scientists from many countries. He has co-authored 250 research papers and hold seven patents. Bose was the chief coordinator of a $2 million Indo-American collaborative project on "Bioactive Substances from the Indian Ocean." This project, between 1984 and 1991, involved the Central Drug Research Institute, the Bose Institute, and the National Institute of Oceanography in India and the Osborne Laboratory of Marine Sciences, the University of Southern California and Stevens Institute of Technology in the United States.

Bose was the recipient of the 1990 New Jersey Professor of the Year award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He was also the author and director of a $1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Foundation for creating the "Chemical Biology Education Enhancement" program at Stevens. The professor joined the Stevens faculty in 1959 and was given the George Meade Bond chair in Chemistry in 1983. In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.

The Mountain Lakes, N.J. resident received his doctorate in Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and both his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Science from the University of Allahabad in India. He conducted his post doctoral work at Harvard University with Dr. Robert Woodward, the 1968 Nobel Laureate in chemistry. Bose was also one of the first faculty members of the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, India. Later, he did research at the University of Pennsylvania and the Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan before joining Stevens. Bose received the honorary master of Engineering degrees from Stevens in 1963.

The American Chemical Society, with a world-wide membership of 140,000 is one of the largest professional organizations for chemists, chemical engineers and biochemists

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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