Joel Schneider, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has been named a recipient of the prestigious DuPont Young Professor Award.

The DuPont Co. awarded 12 of the early career grants this year to promising young faculty members at universities across the United States and internationally. The innovative grant program is designed to provide assistance to promising research faculty working in areas of interest to DuPont’s long-term business.

Schneider, whose research group of nine graduate and two undergraduate students is housed in UD’s Lammot du Pont Laboratory, will receive $25,000 annually for three years to continue work in the design of peptide- and protein-based materials.

“I am extremely pleased to have been named recipient of a DuPont Young Professor Award,” Schneider says. “The award means our work in biomaterials research has been noticed by industrial leaders, and that means a lot when you are a young professor.”

Schneider says the research group is working to develop new materials for human tissue engineering and for use in microfluidic devices, which have applications in medicine and sensor technologies.

“At the base of our research, we are trying to relate molecular structures to material properties,” he says.

In praising the work of his research group, Schneider says, “It is the students who enable you to receive awards such as the DuPont Young Professor. They re-mold your ideas and see them to fruition. This honor goes to them, actually.”

The award grant will be used to fund travel for members of the research group to national and international meetings and conferences.

“Travel is very important for students,” Schneider says. “It motivates them, opens their eyes to science being done nationally and internationally and provides them opportunities to build a network for future study or employment.”

Schneider, who joined the UD faculty in 1999, earned his doctorate from Texas A&M University. He received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award in 2004 and the Francis Alison Society’s Young Scholars Award in 2003.

Schneider says UD provides “a good climate in which to conduct scientific research.” He cites strong support at the department, college and University levels.

In addition to Schneider, other DuPont Young Professors this year include researchers from Cornell, Drexel and Northwestern universities, the Georgia and Massachusetts institutes of technology, the University of Illinois and Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Initiated in 1968, this DuPont program has given more than 500 awards. Many past award recipients have gone on to gain significant recognition in their chosen field from their scientific peers and colleagues.

Each faculty member must be nominated by a member of the DuPont technical staff, who agrees to serve as the liaison between the company and the faculty member. The decision for making the awards resides with the DuPont Fellows Forum, which includes the top scientists in the company.

“The DuPont Young Professor grant program is an excellent way for DuPont to create lasting relationships with future academic scientists who can provide the company with unique perspectives on technological challenges, further aiding our research and development process,” Chris Hollinsed, manager of DuPont Academic Programs, says.

—Neil Thomas, AS ’76