11:51 a.m., Oct. 23, 2009----The Francis Alison Society has announced that its Young Scholars Award for 2009 has been presented to Svilen Bobev, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Bobev was honored during a special ceremony held Thursday, Oct 22.

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The Francis Alison Young Scholars Award is highly competitive and given to a tenure-track assistant professor at UD who has demonstrated outstanding research and academic teaching excellence.

Gerard J. Mangone, secretary of the Francis Alison Society, said, “The competition among 14 very talented assistant professors nominated by their chairs was exceedingly keen this year,” and added, “Svilen Bobev has rapidly established himself as a leader in the field of solid state chemistry since joining the University of Delaware in 2004 as assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.”

“The news that I had been awarded this year's highest honor among the UD junior faculty members came out, quite serendipitously, on my birthday (Sept. 21). Needless to say, that was one of the happiest days of my life, and I was completely overwhelmed,” Bobev said. “Without false modesty, I feel that many other assistant professors are worthy of receiving it, and I am really excited that I won.”

Bobev added, “While the Francis Alison Young Scholars Award is a personal recognition, I think it would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of my students and post-docs. I am also very grateful to my department chairperson, Prof. Klaus Theopold, my colleagues and friends, and, of course, my family, for their unconditional support.”

Theopold, chairperson of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry who nominated Bobev, said he “is an enormously talented and extraordinarily productive solid state chemist as well as an inspiring teacher. His research area represents a new facet in this department's academic offering and is attracting new and talented students to our program. I am convinced that our colleague will be a leader in solid-state chemistry in the United States. He is prolific, and his work is fundamentally interesting and has potential for practical applications.”

A native of Bulgaria, Bobev received his master's degree in physical chemistry from the University of Sofia and his doctorate in inorganic/solid-state chemistry from the University of Notre Dame. He was a Director's Award Postdoctoral Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining the UD faculty in September 2004.

His research focuses on new magnetic materials based on the rare-earth elements and the heavier carbon analogues, such as silicon and tin. He studies the relationship between the structure and properties of these new compounds, which should have important scientific and industrial applications as catalysts and lasers, as well as in magnetic bearings and switches.

Bobev's research group, which has included four graduate students, 13 undergraduates and three post-doctoral and visiting scholars, has been extraordinarily productive, Mangone said, noting he has published the “unprecedented number” of 53 papers describing the research he conducted during his five years at the University of Delaware.

Bobev's accomplishments have been recognized in his field and he has been awarded substantial grants from the National Science Foundation, including the prestigious NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award, as well as the Department of Energy and American Chemical Society.

He has been selected for prestigious prizes by the American Crystallographic Association (Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award) and the American Chemical Society (Exxon Mobil Faculty Fellowship).

Article by Neil Thomas