Franklin Davis, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Chemistry, has been named an inaugural fellow of the American Chemical Society.  A ceremony honoring the 162 inaugural inductees was held by ACS at its national meeting last month in Washington, D.C.

The ACS is a Congressionally chartered independent membership organization that represents professionals in all fields that involve chemistry. The ACS was one the few professional societies that did not have a fellows program, which typically honors an organization's top members. The ACS program was approved last year to recognize the top 1-2 percent of its members for scientific or professional excellence as well as contributions to the society. This year, 162 members were selected from a membership of approximately 154,000.

Davis said he was pleased to have been selected and that it is especially gratifying to be inducted in the inaugural class.

“The ACS fellows program is special in that it is patterned after the Royal Society of Chemistry, which has been around for a very long time,” said Davis.

Davis is best known for research in two new areas of chemistry that he originated, N-sulfonyloxaziridines and sulfinimines, which have resulted in new reagents that bear his name and are widely used by the chemistry community worldwide.  He has been honored with the ACS’s Arthur C. Cope Award, the John Scott Award, and Temple’s Research Award for his scientific accomplishments.

He also been an active participant in ACS, particularly the organic division, having served as chairman, national program chair and currently as a member of the division’s executive committee.

“A lot of people have the scientific awards, but don’t always combine that with service to the profession,” said Davis.  “People who give service to the profession don’t always get a lot of accolades because they are working behind the scenes, but they make it easier for everybody to do their work.”