Merkle Selected

Merkle Selected as ACS Fellow Class of 2021

ACSDFW member Denise Lynn Merkle, PhD, President of SciConsult, Inc and Director at Badderloch Woad, Inc., is a 2021 ACS Fellow. The ACS Division of Small Chemical Businesses sponsored the nomination for the Class of 2021. Merkle earned a BA in Biochemistry from University of MD, Baltimore County (UMBC), worked as a lab aide studying nitrosamines at Frederick Cancer Research Facility, and as a lab tech at UMBC and NIH, studying chloroplast gene expression and the protein structure of glucocerebrosidase, respectively. Merkle's graduate work focused on Zinc Finger Peptides in the laboratory of Jeremy M. Berg at Johns Hopkins. Post-docs in surface science at UF and amyloid peptide and fibril interactions at UND were followed with a stint at MedImmune in the Analytical Sciences and Quality Control Section. Merkle founded SciConsult, Inc in 1997 to provide support for companies and laboratories working in biomedical sciences. Merkle is inventor or co-inventor of 12 patents in disciplines from playground equipment, motorsports metrology, ophthalmologic accessories and insect culture.

An ACS member since 1988, Merkle has served in many local section roles, including Alternate councilor, the 3-year Chair series (three times), Contributor to the Southwest eRetort, General Chair of SWRM 2004, and

Exhibits Chair of SWRM 2014. Merkle currently volunteers as Survey Coordinator and Treasurer for the ACS Small Chemical Businesses Division (ACS SCHB).

Undergraduate Outstanding Chemistry

Student Awards

The ACS DFW local section recognized 20 undergraduate students with Undergraduate Outstanding Chemistry Student Awards. Out of the 20 given awards, 7 were given to community college students. The DFW local section of the ACS organized a photography contest during the “Chemists Celebrate Earth Week”. A total of 15 photographs were submitted by graduate and undergraduate students. Muhammad Abbas from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry-University of Texas at Dallas won the first place with a picture representing diamond like crystals of copper metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Yafen Tian from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry-University of Texas at Dallas won the second place with a picture representing wrinkled mesoporous silica synthesized by bi-continuous microemulsion. Kapil Dev Sayala from the Department of Chemistry-Southern Methodist University won the third place with a picture representing crystals of 2iodobenzonitrile formed by slow evaporation of ethanol.