AU Grads Co-Recipients of Prestigious Yeager Award

Two May 2011 AU graduates -- Jennifer Miller (left, Geology and Integrated Science) Daphne Guinn (right, Toxicology) -- have been selected as co-recipients of the Ernest B. Yeager award by the Cleveland Chapter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS) and the Analytical Topics Group of the American Chemical Society (ACS). They are pictured here presenting their research in Washington DC at the recent Council on Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill with adviser Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer.

The award will be presented on June 1 at the annual Conference on Spectroscopy and Analytical Chemistry at John Carroll University, where Guinn and Miller will give a presentation on their research. The Yeager award recognizes Guinn and Miller’s achievements in independent research, particularly in the application of spectroscopy to the analysis of cadmium, for which the two will receive a certificate, a monetary award and a year's membership in SAS.

The two graduates are the first Ashland University students to win this prestigious award since their adviser, Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer, professor of chemistry, won it as an undergraduate student in the late 1970s.

Dr. Weidenhamer notes, “The Yeager Award is quite an honor for both Daphne and Jennifer and for Ashland University. Their work has helped draw attention to the previously unrecognized hazards of putting cadmium, which is a very dangerous heavy metal, into jewelry products as a replacement for lead. It is unusual for scientific research at any level to make a direct impact on public policy, but this work has already helped improve the safety of children’s products and raised the level of consciousness about the dangers of cadmium.”

Daphne is pursuing a career in biomedical research, and has been accepted into the Ohio State University Integrated Biomedical Science Graduate Program to study for her Ph.D. Jennifer is interested in pursuing a career in environmental geochemistry and has been accepted into the Miami University Geology Program to study for her Master’s degree.