Dr. Amrit Venkatesh, a Ph.D. graduate from the Rossini Group at Iowa State's Department of Chemisty, is the recipient of the 2021 Zaffarano Prize. The Graduate
College awards this prize annually to graduate students who show superior performance in publishing research in academic journals. They consider both the quality and quantity of publications when selecting a winner.
Venkatesh earned his doctorate from Iowa state in the fall of 2020. During his time on campus, he co-authored 16 publications and was the first author for nine publications. He previously received the Edward V. Sayre Chemistry Scholarship, the Nelson Scholarship, the Cotton-Uphaus Research Award, the Frank J. Moore and Thoreen Beth Moore Fellowship, as well as, the Teaching Excellence Award from the Graduate College and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate Research Award.
Upon completion of his PhD, in just 4.5 years in a department that averages 5.25 years, Venkatesh as taken up a postdoctoral fellowship position with Professor Lyndon Emsley at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). EPFL is a research institute and university in Lausanne, Switzerland, that specializes in natural sciences and engineering. Professor Emsley is one of the leading experts in the field of NMR spectroscopy and has mentored many faculty members. Aside from the previously mentioned awards at Iowa State, Venkatesh was also recently awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship.
Congratulations to Dr. Amrit Venkatesh on this award!