Professor Kevin Edgar received the Anselme Payen Award from the American Chemical Society’s Cellulose and Renewable Materials Division in April. The award honors outstanding professional contributions to the science and technology of cellulose and other polysaccharides. Edgar, who has worked in the field of cellulose research for almost 35 years, is researching new ways to use cellulose and other natural polysaccharides in drug formulation and delivery.

One of Edgar’s students, Yifan Dong, received the division’s Graduate Student Award, a prestigious international honor given to only one student worldwide each year. Dong, a doctoral candidate in polymer chemistry, is now with Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas, after graduating in May. “Yifan is highly deserving of this award,” Edgar said. “She’s incredibly diligent and creative, and she’s clearly a leader in the lab. Good things happen because of people like her.”

Dong is the fourth student from Edgar’s research group to receive this award since 2011. “Having four students win this award is awesome. It speaks to how lucky I’ve been with the students who chose to join my group,” Edgar said. “Getting to work with young people and then seeing them out in the world doing well is pretty wonderful.”

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