Alexander Boldyrev Receives USU's 2009 D. Wynne Thorne Research Award

Alexander Boldyrev, a professor in Utah State University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Science, is the recipient of the 2009 D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award, presented by USU’s Vice President for Research Office. Named after USU’s first vice president for research, the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award is the most prestigious research accolade given by USU.


“Alexander Boldyrev is at the heart of what is arguably the most creative and productive scientific research program at this university,” said Steve Scheiner, head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “One of his greatest strengths is his choice of research problems.”

Scheiner added that while some researchers in Boldyrev’s field are content in addressing issues that push new understanding in small increments, Boldyrev is known for addressing central problems in a direct way. Primarily, Boldyrev’s research involves “aromaticity” and chemical bonding.

Born in the Soviet Union, Boldyrev received his doctorate at Moscow State University and went on to receive a Habilitation degree (limited to independent researchers, with documented accomplishments, in the German and Soviet systems) at the USSR Academy of Sciences. He spent 25 years in the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he rose through the ranks to become head of a scientific group and a leading researcher in the country. Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he won a Humboldt Fellowship to work in Germany where he was accorded faculty status. Boldyrev has been at USU since 1999.

Since the 19th century, chemists have used the term aromaticity to describe the chemical bonding properties of organic compounds. By developing chemical-bonding models capable of explaining the structures of metallic clusters, Boldyrev and his team have revealed that metals exhibit aromaticity. This research could improve scientists’ understanding of the nature of catalytic activity and lead to the design of new catalysts.

Boldyrev published 126 articles during his tenure as leading researcher at the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1990, he has published another 133 research articles. These articles are published in some of the highest ranking peer-reviewed journals in his field. Publishing between five and 13 papers each year, Boldyrev was cited 530 times in 2007.

These numbers are very high, according to Scheiner, and “are comparable, and sometimes in excess of, those of notable researchers in his field from institutions such as Harvard, MIT and Berkeley.”

“[Boldyrev] is completely dedicated to his scientific mission to remake the conceptual basis of chemical bonding theory,” said J. V. Ortiz, Ruth W. Molette Professor and chairman in Auburn University’s department of chemistry and biochemistry. “Such aspirations will inevitably provoke skepticism, jealousy and intrigue, but he is admirably unselfish in recognizing the contributions of others, in responding calmly to overheated rivals and in encouraging his students and colleagues. His ideas are destined for the textbooks of tomorrow and his conduct also provides positive instruction to the next generation of scientists.”

The D. Wynne Thorne Award is given annually at USU to an outstanding university researcher who is recommended by a committee of peers, all previous award recipients. Nominees are evaluated by letters from nationally known experts in their field of study.

Boldyrev received the D. Wynne Thorne Award at the USU Research Awards Luncheon March 30, from Vice President for Research Brent Miller and will be recognized at USU’s spring commencement May 2. He will give the annual D. Wynne Thorne lecture at the 2010 awards luncheon.

Contact: Alexander Boldyrev, 435-797-1630, a.l.boldyrev@usu.edu
Writer: Jacoba Mendelkow, jacoba.mendelkow@usu.edu