Michael Leopold

Michael C. Leopold, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Richmond, has earned the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for 2010. This award supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences. Commitment to education and the promise of outstanding contributions to both research and teaching are the hallmarks of recipients in this program.

Given by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. of New York, the award provides $60,000 over five years in support of the awardee’s professional efforts. Leopold’s research is focused on nanomaterials in the environment, including at the junction of materials science and bioanalytical chemistry with fundamental studies of interactions between synthetic nanomaterials and biomolecules.

Leopold routinely works with undergraduate students in his research lab in addition to the classroom, and many of his students have gone on to graduate schools and careers in the chemical sciences, after co-publishing with Dr. Leopold in such peer-reviewed publications and the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Langmuir, Journal of Materials Chemistry, and the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. The Leopold research group has presented results at a number of regional and national scientific conferences. Dr. Leopold has obtained research support from the National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society, the Commonwealth Health Research Board and the Jeffress Memorial Trust.

Leopold has taught at the University of Richmond since 2002. He has recently been honored for his teaching by Omicron Delta Kappa, and was named an Outstanding Mentor at Richmond in 2009 and Distinguished Educator in 2008.