Peter Dorhout new fellow of world's largest scientific society
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017
MANHATTAN — The American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, is honoring Peter Dorhout, Kansas State University vice president for research and professor of chemistry, as one of its 2017 fellows.
Dorhout is among 396 fellows chosen this year and was selected for his distinguished contributions to the field of f-element solid state chemistry, his many accomplishments in academic leadership and his outstanding leadership in professional organizations and foundations. Dorhout is the 2017 president-elect of the American Chemical Society.
"I was humbled to be nominated by my peers earlier this year and was thrilled to have been selected by the association," Dorhout said. "AAAS comprises a diverse set of disciplines and scientists with a common purpose of advancing our understanding of the universe."
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world's largest scientific society. Founded in 1848, it includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science. The association's fellowship program recognizes individuals whose efforts toward advancing science applications are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.
Dorhout's selection follows a vote by peers in the association. This year's fellows will be formally announced in the AAAS News and Notes section of the journal Science on Nov. 24. Dorhout will be recognized at a certificate and pinning ceremony at the association's annual meeting Feb. 17, 2018, in Austin, Texas.
"This is a wonderful honor for Dr. Dorhout," said April Mason, university provost and senior vice president. "This honor is given for the body of work he has accomplished over a stellar career. AAAS recognizes and celebrates scientists, and Peter Dorhout is a great scientist."
Dorhout is a recognized expert in solid state and nuclear materials science, and environmental chemistry. He has served as a collaborator at Los Alamos National Laboratory since 1987 and has published more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and reviews while presenting more than 130 international and national invited lectures. One of his most significant scientific accomplishments was to develop a research and training program for graduate students and postdocs in solid-state actinide chemistry with Los Alamos and the Seaborg Institute.
Dorhout has a strong record of service to academic administration. In addition to positions at previous institutions and his current position as vice president for research, Dorhout also served four years as dean of the Kansas State University's College of Arts and Sciences. As dean, Dorhout led a strategic planning exercise that focused the college on three key growth areas: fundraising and building the endowment, building strong academic programs and strengthening the research enterprise. Significant accomplishments include creating a plan to raise $100 million in a six-year campaign, doubling the number of endowed faculty chairs and enhancing the stipends for graduate assistants.
Dorhout is a proven servant leader in several professional organizations, including the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, the Kansas State University Research Foundation, Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance and the Coronado Council Boy Scouts of America executive board. He served the Council of Graduate Schools as a member of its executive board while he led the Western Alliance of Graduate Schools as its 2011-2012 president. As a leader on the Research Corporation board, he coordinated a refocusing of the grants programs to create Scialog, a science dialog program focused on accelerating breakthroughs in grand challenges in chemistry and physics. In 2016, Dorhout joined the Council on Research, a council of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, where he organized and chaired a session on building diversity in the office of the vice president for research at the 2016 Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' national meeting.
Dorhout is also an active, longtime member and leader in the American Chemical Society. He was elected by the membership in 2017 to the presidential succession of the society and will serve as president in 2018.
Dorhout earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University and a research collaborator with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dorhout was named a fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2013.
