Yale chemist is awarded Packard Fellowship

Seth B. Herzon, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, has been named a 2011 Packard Fellow.

The fellowship was established in 1988 by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to support early-career scientists in the physical sciences and engineering, and will support work in Herzon’s laboratory, which is focused on two areas of research. The first involves natural products synthesis, finding ways to recreate useful complex molecules produced in nature in the laboratory; the second research area pursued by Herzon is organometallic chemistry and the development of new catalytic reactions.

Each year, the presidents of 50 universities nominate members of their faculty for the Packard Fellowship, and a panel of scientists selects 16 fellows to receive the award. The fellowships provide individual grants of $875,000 over five years.

Herzon’s past honors include the Searle Scholar Award and the Synthesis/Synlett Journal Award, among others.