USM Associate Professor Named Chemist of the Year by Mississippi Section of American Chemical Society

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 04:20pm | By: Van Arnold

For her exemplary efforts as an educator, researcher, and mentor, Dr. Julie Pigza, Associate Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) has been named the 2021 Chemist of the Year by the Mississippi Local Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

This marks Pigza’s first time to earn the prestigious award. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., she joined the USM faculty in 2013. Pigza notes that she felt “surprised, extremely honored, and humbled all at the same time” upon receiving the news.

“Research faculty have a lot of aspects to our jobs that take up our time, and it can be hard to know if you are devoting time to everything completely,” she said. “A recognition such as this makes me pause and realize I must be doing something right.”

Much of Pigza’s research emphasis at USM involves the various facets of organic chemistry. During her time at USM, she has expanded her research group to also include organocatalysis, which is using small, chiral organic molecules to impart selectivity in bond forming reactions to yield products that are enriched in one stereoisomer.

“To understand the important interactions between molecules that result in this selectivity, we have also begun to explore computational programs that can capture this data,” said Pigza. “We are interested in a feedback loop where results within the lab can be supported by computation and where calculations could be utilized as a predictive tool to develop new reactions in the lab.”

Dr. Bernd Schroeder, Interim Director of USM’s School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, points out that Pigza’s expertise and commitment to excellence made her an ideal choice for the award.

“Chemistry is a competitive and impactful field, which makes this a very significant award. Dr. Pigza is very versatile, and she dedicates tremendous energy to all her pursuits,” said Schroeder. “Her teaching is well received and includes inverted lectures, YouTube videos, lecture notes available prior to the start of class, Smart Boards, research projects (in a combined senior/graduate level class) and, when available, using learning assistants as peer mentors. Her written student evaluation comments are among the best, if not the best, that I have ever seen.”

Pigza earned her undergraduate degree (2002) from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. She received her doctorate in organic chemistry from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. (2008) under the tutelage of Dr. Jeffrey Johnston. From 2008-2009, she was a post-doctoral researcher in the Molinski Group at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining the USM faculty, she was an assistant professor of chemistry at Queensborough Community College in Bayside, N.Y.

She has received research funding through the National Science Foundation Early Faculty CAREER program and the Eppley Foundation for Scientific Research, as well as internal collaborative grants to support teaching and outreach efforts.

During her independent career as a faculty member, Pigza has trained four graduate students, 27 undergraduate students, and four high school students. Of those students, 23 have been underrepresented student from within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields.

“Any recognition I receive is a direct reflection of the hard work of the students in my research lab,” said Pigza.