For the second year in a row, UGA's Graduate School has honored an outstanding doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry with a Beverly Hirsh Frank Graduate Fellowship for Women in Science. Darrah Johnson-McDaniel is the 2014 recipient of this award, which provides special recognition of her original research in an interdisciplinary and emerging field. Darrah is beginning her 4th year of study with Prof. Salguero. Her research has pioneered the nanoscience of alkali earth metal silicate materials, some of which have a long history dating back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. According to Prof. Salguero's nomination, "Darrah has reinvented this ancient material for the modern world with state-of-the-art chemistry and materials science techniques." To date Darrah has published three manuscripts on this topic, notably a widely publicized 2013 article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society ("Nanoscience of an Ancient Pigment"). In addition to these research achievements, Darrah received a 2014 Graduate Teaching Assistant Award and the 2014 Kenneth W. Whitten Award for her contributions to upper level undergraduate chemistry courses and participation in Franklin College's Writing Intensive Program. Darrah received her B.S. in Chemistry degree from UGA as well in 2010. After graduation she plans on a career in government or industry R&D. Beverly Hirsh Frank (AB, '54) is the generous benefactor of this fellowship and other activities at her alma mater.
