Diversity in the Scientific Community

Donna Nelson, Professor of Chemistry at Oklahoma University, obtained her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Texas-Austin and did her postdoctorate at Purdue, after which she joined the OU faculty in 1983. She has almost 200 publications and many honors, including NSF ADVANCE Leadership Award, SACNAS Distinguished Scientist, Women's eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, Sigma Xi Faculty Research Award, and many keynote talks. She specializes in organicchemistry. Nelson's career has focused on five primary topics of research generally categorized in two areas, Scientific Research and America's Scientific Readiness. Nelson served as a science advisor to the AMC television show Breaking Bad and was the 2016 President of the American Chemical Society (ACS).H. N. Cheng obtained his PhD at the University of Illinois and is currently a research chemist at Southern Regional Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Orleans. Prior to 2009 he worked for Hercules Incorporated. Over the years, his research interests have included green polymer chemistry, biocatalysis and enzymatic reactions, pulp and paper chemistry, functional foods, polymer characterization, and NMR spectroscopy.