Michigan Chemistry professors Zhan Chen and Ayyalusamy (Rams) Ramamoorthy have recently been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Becoming an RSC Fellow is a recognition of not only making notable contributions to one’s field but also to the greater scientific community.  Both Chen and Ramamoorthy were delighted and humbled to learn of this recognition.

Chen’s research is on molecular level, in-situ studies of interfaces (solid-solid and liquid-solid) using non-linear spectroscopy. His group directly studies buried interfaces that cannot be studied otherwise, including investigations of anti-fouling polymers (e.g., coatings for marine ships), microelectronic units and packaging, and biomaterials and biosensing.

Ramamoorthy’s research is in the field of solid-state NMR spectroscopy and its application to biology and materials study. His group uses basic chemistry and biophysics to problem solve and develop methodologies to address important biologically and medically relevant questions. Specifically, he has developed novel NMR techniques and studied membrane proteins, amyloid proteins, antimicrobial peptides and bone at the atomic level.

When asked about being RSC Fellows, Chen and Ramamoorthy were enthusiastic.

“It encourages us to do more research in chemistry and science," Chen said. "Structure-function relationships are important but it is hard to study complicated surfaces and interfaces. Students learn fundamental methods, rigorous training and how to think of real-world applications.”

Ramamoorthy added,“While our research is now focused on multidisciplinary problems, keeping the core chemist identity is important as chemistry is a fascinating discipline. It enables me to interact with more chemists to synthesize novel compounds/polymers and develop membrane mimetics for our research in the biophysical area, and also contribute more significantly to international chemistry.”

The RSC is the top professional organization of chemical scientists in the U.K. with over 54,000 members. In addition, the RSC runs several international scientific journals, publishes books, and owns a number of databases and literature updating services.