We are pleased to announce our 2nd annual Chapman University Grand Challenges Initiative Outstanding Research Publication Award by a Grand Challenges Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow. The award is supported by alumni of the Grand Challenges Initiative Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Fellows Program.

The selection committee, which included Drs. Doug Dechow (chair), Carter Berry (’20), & Cristiano Duarte (’20), evaluated submissions based on their novelty, impact and interdisciplinary thinking.

The winner of the 2nd annual award  is Dr. Aaron W. Harrison for the article entitled “Spectroscopic and Photochemical Properties of Secondary Brown Carbon from Aqueous Reactions of Methylglyoxal,” which appeared in the journal ACS Space and Earth Chemistry.

Dr. Harrison’s submission was authored in collaboration with Chapman University Prof. Warren De Bruyn and Amanda Waterson, an undergraduate chemistry major. The article was compelling in its use of the tools and techniques of chemistry to interrogate important questions surrounding climate change and global warming. One reviewer cited the paper’s ambitions by addressing how it investigates “the role of Brown Carbon as a critical component of atmospheric science and the role it plays in climate.”

Our congratulations to Dr. Harrison, and our thanks to each of the post-doctoral fellows who submitted their work.