Mary K. Carroll, a 1982 graduate of Spencerport High School, has been elected as 2023 president-elect of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society with 151,000 members in 140 countries.
Carroll, an analytical chemist, is the Dwane W. Crichton Professor of Chemistry at Union College in Schenectady. She was the first alumna (’86) hired as a tenure-track member of Union’s faculty.
She will serve as president of the American Chemical Society in 2024 and immediate past president in 2025; she will also serve on the board of directors from 2023 through 2025.
“Professor Carroll has been a leader in research; mentoring of students; promotion of women in STEM; and advocacy for the teacher-scholar model across liberal arts, engineering, and computer science that is core to Union College,” said David R. Harris, president of Union College.
“I feel honored and really pleased,” Carroll said in the ACS announcement on October 26. “I look forward to promoting ACS activities that are going to yield maximum results for the members and for society at large. And I’m also eager to have the opportunity to work with other ACS member volunteers from all different levels.
“At this difficult time, it is critically important that scientists contribute to society as a whole via research, education, advocacy and outreach activities,” she said. “I am truly honored to be ACS president-elect.”
Working on behalf of ACS, Carroll said she intends to focus on supporting the dissemination of research, communicating science to the public, encouraging outreach, and increasing diversity.
Carroll co-directs Union College’s Aerogel Lab, a highly productive, cross-disciplinary group of students and faculty in chemistry, mechanical engineering, and other STEM fields. The lab investigates catalytic aerogels for automotive pollution mitigation and the use of aerogels for sustainable building applications. The Aerogel Lab has been supported by a number of grants from the National Science Foundation. Carroll and her colleagues hold three patents, including two for their aerogel manufacturing process.
Carroll and Aerogel Lab co-director Ann Anderson, the Agnes S. MacDonald Professor of Mechanical Engineering, were awarded the 2021 Stillman Prize for Faculty Excellence in Research.
Since 1998, she has served as a councilor of the Eastern New York ACS section. At the national level, she serves on the ACS Committee on Science. She was recognized as an ACS Fellow in 2016.
Professor Carroll earned her bachelor’s degree from Union College and her Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington.
Among her other honors, she was named among 100 Inspiring Women in STEM by INSIGHT into Diversity magazine and received the Outstanding Service Award from the New York Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
Provided information
