UCLA Chemist Richard Kaner Awarded Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service

June 24, 2002 -- Richard B. Kaner, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry whose internationally renowned research in materials chemistry has led to several patents, has been awarded the 2002-04 Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence.

The honor is presented to a UCLA faculty member every second year in recognition of "extraordinary accomplishment" in research, outstanding teaching and distinguished university service.

Kaner's colleagues and students praise him as an exceptionally dedicated teacher, whether teaching large freshman courses or advanced graduate seminars, and an innovative, highly productive scientist who has made significant, lasting contributions to UCLA and to chemistry.

William Gelbart, professor and chair of UCLA's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, describes Kaner as an "outstanding teacher, mentor, scholar, and a remarkable person."

In his research in inorganic and materials chemistry, Kaner focuses on the design of new high-temperature materials and their synthesis by new chemical methods. He discovered a spectacular new method to make high-temperature ceramics in a few seconds that previously took days or even weeks. His research group has produced more than 100 materials using this method, and he has obtained three patents for the process, with two more pending. He has published his results in the most prestigious scientific journals.

A separate research project has led to his development of membranes for separating gases such as oxygen and nitrogen from air, a process of tremendous industrial importance. The membranes are composed of conducting plastics, a class of materials that was unknown 25 years ago. Kaner and a UCLA chemistry colleague hold two patents on some of the most selective oxygen/nitrogen membranes that have ever been produced.

"Ric's studies have led us to a better understanding of the mechanism of electrical conduction in these novel materials," said Gelbart, who added that Kaner's current research in this area "should lead to purer pharmaceuticals and therefore to more effective medication therapies." In a third area of research, Kaner has synthesized novel superconductors based on a new molecular form of pure carbon - soccerball-like molecules known as fullerenes, or "buckyballs."

Kaner has authored more than 100 research publications since joining UCLA's faculty in 1987.

Kaner, who is also known for integrating research and teaching, has had 45 UCLA undergraduates participate in research in his laboratory, along with 21 students who have completed their Ph.D.s under his supervision, eight who are currently conducting their thesis research, seven postdoctoral associates and seven visiting scientists.

Discussing Kaner's teaching skills, Gelbart said "his classroom presentations are consummately prepared" and praised the "inexhaustible energy and attention he devotes" to his students, and his "high standard of intellectual activity and personal integrity."

Kaner incorporates new research into his lectures as soon as it is published. He also shows how important chemistry is in our daily lives.

"I was bored when I took freshman chemistry," Kaner recalled. "When many people teach chemistry, they don't show the relevance it has to our lives. I plan to teach a new Gold Shield faculty course on how materials affect us: the materials that make light bulbs, TVs and computer chips work along with the chemistry of synthetic gems."

Kaner received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Brown University. The highlight of his undergraduate education was the four years he spent conducting research in the chemistry lab of Aaron Wold. Kaner still keeps the first crystals he grew in his first quarter in Wold's lab.

He did his graduate work in inorganic chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his doctorate in 1984. He was a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley before joining UCLA's faculty as an assistant professor in 1987. He was promoted to associate professor in 1991 and professor in 1993.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including John Simon Guggenheim, Alfred P. Sloan, and David and Lucile Packard fellowships, as well as premier awards from the American Chemical Society, a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and UCLA's Harriet and Charles Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award, among many others.

Kaner's research is funded primarily by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

He has also made substantial contributions in the area of university service, serving as vice chair for education in chemistry and biochemistry for three-and-a-half years, as an undergraduate advisor for five years, chairing a committee for three years that oversees recruiting and evaluating chemistry and biochemistry graduate students, chairing a task force to improve teaching of freshman and sophomore physical science, and serving on several university committees on teaching and research.

In addition, he is a husband and the father of three children, ages nine, five and two.

The faculty prize, which includes a cash award of $30,000 in unrestricted research funding, was established by Gold Shield in 1986 to mark the group's 50th anniversary.

Gold Shield is an honorary service and philanthropic organization for women graduates of UCLA whose members are chosen based on their university service and outstanding professional and community achievements. The organization serves UCLA by providing financial support for not only the Gold Shield Faculty Prize, but also student scholarships, the Oral History Program, and a new Gold Shield Faculty Prize Course in the College of Letters and Science. In addition, Gold Shield members participate actively in many areas of university life.