Ohio State’s chemistry department has a long-standing tradition of excellence and one professor is working to ensure it remains a leader in the field.

Bruce Bursten, professor and department chair, was recently awarded the 2003 Spiers Memorial Lectureship from the Royal Society of Chemistry for his work in advancing the field of chemistry.

Bursten said he was surprised and honored to be chosen for this prestigious award.

Rob Coleman, a colleague of Bursten, said he was not surprised to hear Bursten had won the award.

“He deserves things like this,” Coleman said. “He is a very distinguished professor and this is yet another nice prize for some really beautiful science he does.”

Bursten, who teaches inorganic chemistry at undergraduate and graduate levels, said he loves trying to show students how research in the field relates to what they are learning.

“Students learn not only what is in their textbooks but what faculty is doing in their own research,” he said.

Bursten said the work which probably led to the award was the discovery of a new bond of elements last year.

“We found, in collaboration with the University of Virginia, that under the right circumstances uranium would bond to noble gases,” he said.

Bursten said he has been studying the structure and bonding of actinide elements, such as uranium and plutonium, for about 20 years. While the research is largely theoretical because of the radioactivity of the elements, it is fundamental to the field of chemistry.

“We are looking at the behavior of actinide compounds in water to perhaps use them for clean-up of radioactive waste in ground water. Anything we can do on the theoretical side to help explain the behavior of these compounds in real situations adds to the body of knowledge and to our understanding of the systems,” he said.

Bursten said he has worked with Quantum Inorganic Chemistry, which is used to describe the behavior of electrons in atoms and molecules, since 1978. The research underwent a big change in 1990 with the emergence of the density functional theory.

“When I was in graduate school, we had to use approximate methods to reveal the chemistry of this area. This new technique gave us a different, more predictable, approach which we are now using with great success,” he said.

Bursten said the research is needed to find a more fundamental understanding of what inorganic molecules are doing.

“An important part of work in this field is to change the rules,” he said.

He said he is also working with photochemistry, examples of which are sunburns and photography.

“As we look at energy sources in the future, such as solar energy, we need a way to harness energy better by having molecules absorb light and then use it. We are a long way off from this happening, but it will be a big contribution to society,” he said.

Bursten said when he went to college at the University of Chicago he did not plan on entering chemistry.

“I went to college certain I was going into math. I took a chemistry class my freshman year and was hooked,” he said. “I have no regrets.”

Bursten will travel to the University of York in England in April to be an introductory lecturer at a conference on Quantum Inorganic Chemistry and to receive his award.

Heather Allen, professor in chemistry, said the department is happy he was given this prestigious award.

“We’re all extraordinarily proud of him,” she said.