Kelling Donald

Kelling Donald

March 16, 2011

Assistant Professor Kelling Donald, Department of Chemistry, has been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award.

Today’s award is $95,719 for the first year of the five-year project. An additional $492,926 will be awarded based on progress of the project and availability of funds, for a total award of $588,615.

Donald’s project, “Theoretical Studies of the Relationships between Bonding Preferences in Inorganic Molecules, their Oligomers and Extended Solids, Focusing on Metal Halides,” will increase understanding of certain chemical processes through computational research. Donald and his research group will partner with the University’s Math-Science Investigators program for area high school students, to help increase the number of students from underrepresented groups to pursue advanced studies in the sciences, enter college, and work towards a degree in science.

The theoretical investigations proposed in this project are designed for controlled yet rigorous training of undergraduate students, who are involved in all levels of the research endeavor, from conceptualization to publication and presentation. In the last three years, Donald has mentored 11 undergraduates, published five papers in refereed journals, including two with undergraduate coauthors. The current project will multiply the number of undergraduates involved, and some 225 area high school students and teachers will be involved through research, workshops and seminars in the University or Richmond Chemistry labs, and faculty mentored summer research experiences. Grant funds will provide summer stipends, local student transportation, travel to present research at national meetings, materials and supplies.

Donald came to the University of Richmond in 2007, after postdoctoral positions at Technical University Darmstadt (Germany) and Cornell University. His bachelor’s and doctoral degrees are from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.