Coryell Award in Nuclear Chemistry


Charles Dubois Coryell
(photo courtesy of Endre Toth)

  The Charles D. Coryell Award honors undergraduate students who have completed research projects in nuclear or nuclear-related areas. Each year, up to two students are selected to receive awards of $500. Contributions are judged on the basis of ingenuity, novelty, and potential usefulness. To be eligible, a student must have been an undergraduate at some time during the 12-month period prior to the deadline date for submission of applications for the award. The student may be sponsored by a faculty member at the home institution or by a research director at another institution where the student performed the work.

Undergraduate students who have done research in nuclear or radiochemistry are encouraged to apply for the Coryell Award (or have their research mentor nominate them for the award). Download the attached Word application form, fill it out and ask your research mentor to send a letter of nomination to the address below. Then to complete the application, attach a research publication or manuscript that describes the research project in which you were involved.

Nominations should consist of a letter written by the person who directed the work and the student's written report. The complete nomination should be no longer than 20 pages.

Application Form

Submit nominations to:
Professor Graham F. Peaslee
Chemistry Department
Hope College
Holland, MI   49423
(peaslee@hope.edu)

The deadline for submissions is May 11, 2007
Please to not hesitate to contact Dr. Peaslee if you have any questions about the application process.

Previous Award Recipients

    2006 Jill Pinter
2005 Gregory K. Pang 2004 Michelle L. Kovarik 2003 Michael Bridges
2002 Sean Liddick 2001 Peter Dorff 2000 Bryan Tomlin
1999 Jason Shergur 1998 David Ginger  1995 Glenn Fugate
1992 Kevin Schaab 1988 Erin Renshaw 1987 John Kevin Donohue
1987 Shoshanna D. Rose 1986 Robert Maher 1985 Carolyn J. Anderson
1985 David R. Dorsett, Jr. 1984 Awanish C. Mishra 1983 C. Greg Pippin
1982 Susan L. Fraser 1981 Kenneth E. Gregorich 1980 Steven M. Montner
1979 Barbara Jacak 1978 Paul Solomon 1976 Richard F. Davis
1974 L. Sterna 1973 Saburo Yashita 1972 R.E. Leber
1971 M.D. Kluetz 1970 A.E. Salwin 1970 E. Gladney



2003 Coryell Award Winner

 
The Undergraduate Awards Committee of the division of Nuclear Chemistry and
Technology of the American Chemical Society  would like to offer
congratulations to Michael Bridges as the recipient of the 2003 Coryell
Award.  Michael is a student at the University of British Columbia and did his
research at TRIUMF. His mentors were Don Fleming and Khashayar Ghandi
and the title of his research was: "Muonium and Muoniated Free Radical Formation
and Radiation Chemistry in Sub- and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide".
A short write-up about Mike's research:

There is a great potential for use of supercritical (SC) solvents (in particular, SC-CO2) for the extraction of unstable isotopes from nuclear waste. The main concern when handling solvents and reaction vessels after extraction of this waste is their level of radioactivity. When using supercritical solvents such as CO2, in which UO2 is extremely soluble, the temperature and pressure of the solvent can be adjusted quite easily to change its density (drastically!). High SC-CO2 density thermalizes radioactive decay products (radiation) so that they do not reach the vessel walls (or the outside)

Using the MuSR technique at TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC, the positive muon was injected into supercritical carbon dioxide at varying densities. Its intra- track spur formation (the degree to which the muon ionizes the solvent (CO2) and those high-energy electrons travel, thus forming radiation of their own) was closely studied using a MuSR Spectrometer.

Better understanding of  "spur formation" in supercritical CO2 allows us to tune its temperature and pressure to the ideal levels for the safe use in UO2 extraction.

2004 Coryell Award Winner
The Undergraduate Awards Committee of the division of Nuclear Chemistry and
Technology of the American Chemical Society  would like to offer
congratulations to Michelle L. Kovarik as the recipient of the 2004 Coryell
Award.  Michelle is a student at Saint Louis University and did her research
with the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Kentucky.
Her mentors were Dr. Michael Jay and graduate student Jim Weekley, and
the title of her research was “Development and Application of
Nanosuspension Liquid Scintillation Counting Fluid.”

A short write-up about Michelle's research:
(Michelle's poster will be presented at the March National ACS meeting in Anaheim. Her poster is CHED #736 in the Monday 2-4 PM Undergraduate Research poster session in Hall A of the conference center.)

Liquid scintillation counting (LSC) currently accounts for 71% of mixed radioactive, organic waste.  Development of an aqueous-based scintillation cocktail is desirable to reduce the amount of mixed waste produced. 
Polymerization of styrene-in-water microemulsions was used to entrap LSC fluor molecules, 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and p-bis(o-methylstyryl)-benzene (bis-MSB), in polystyrene nanoparticles to create an aqueous suspension.   These nanosuspensions were characterized using quasi-elastic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy and optimized with respect to PPO concentration, surfactant molecule(s), and styrene purification.  The nanosuspensions were used successfully to count various aqueous samples, including biological samples of digested blood and tissue.  Optimized nanosuspensions yielded counting efficiencies for 14C-acetic acid of up to 46% compared to commercially available LSC cocktail.


 

 Back to DNCT home page.