April 29, 1998 Contact Ross West (541) 346-2060 Source: Mike Haley (541) 346-0456 EUGENE--Michael Haley, a University of Oregon chemistry professor, has received a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for 1998. The Dreyfus Foundation annually presents approximately 15 Dreyfus awards, each for $60,000. "I place a high value on teaching in my lab, and this award recognizes that commitment," Haley says. "The money will go primarily to support students working in my laboratory." The Dreyfus awards program is intended to strengthen the teaching and research careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences. Criteria for selection included a commitment to education and an independent body of scholarship that signaled the promise of continuing outstanding contributions to both research and teaching. Haley's research focuses on the promising chemistry of carbon-rich molecules. "Our group is interested in building carbon-rich molecules of differing sizes and shapes that will be useful in many applications," he says. "Our achievement is that we have created a simple method for building these complex compounds from smaller, easy-to-handle component parts. It is almost like snapping together Legos." Haley credits much of his own success to the help he received from supportive and inspiring professors when he was a student. "One of the most important things I do--and the UO chemistry department as a whole does this really well--is to teach undergraduate researchers to think about a problem critically--to be thinking, resourceful, high-quality scientists. These are skills they can use later on in their careers, whether at a chemical company, a pharmaceutical company or at some other job that requires critical analysis of problems. This is the dynamic the Dreyfus award recognizes." -30- #G-7344/Local, OrSci