Each year, AAAS awards distinguished scientists for significant contributions to science.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has elected two scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory as AAAS Fellows for Chemistry.
Massimiliano “Max” Delferro, a chemist and group leader of the Catalysis Science Program in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering division at Argonne and a senior scientist at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, and Arthur J. Schultz, scientist emeritus in Argonne’s X-ray Science Division, will join a distinguished cadre of researchers being recognized for their achievements.
“This is an opportunity to really thank all the people who have worked with me for the past few years. This is just as much their award as it is mine.” — Massimiliano “Max” Delferro, scientist at Argonne
Delferro was elected based on his work on the development of a catalytic process to convert single-use plastics into higher value chemicals that can be used to generate everyday necessities. His work emphasizes the importance of adopting a holistic approach to break down waste plastics into their original building blocks, enabling a closed-loop system where plastics can be infinitely recycled without degradation. This shift could significantly reduce plastic waste and environmental pollution, making plastic recycling more sustainable in the long term. During the years, this work was supported by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences through the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics, an Energy Frontier Research Center; the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (Bioenergy Technologies Office and Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office); and the DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
“This is an opportunity to really thank all the people who have worked with me for the past few years,” said Delferro. “This is just as much their award as it is mine. I want to thank Alfred P. Sattelberger, a former associate and deputy laboratory director at Argonne, who nominated me for the award and was a great mentor to many scientists at the lab.”
Schultz received this honor for his contributions to the science of neutron diffraction. Specifically, Schultz’s work over 40 years has advanced the ability of scientists to collect data from time-of-flight (TOF) neutron Laue diffraction experiments, which use the travel time of neutrons to precisely gauge their velocities and wavelengths. In the 1980s, Schultz participated in the development of a new type of detector for the Single Crystal Diffractometer at Argonne’s Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) and used it to advance studies in several areas, including structure-property relationships in solid-state materials and the characterization of structure and bonding in transition-metal coordination complexes. Schultz has since helped to develop diffractometers at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), a DOE Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and conducted research into many different materials, including studies of polarization switching in hydrogen-containing ferroelectrics.
“The IPNS at Argonne was an exciting place to work. I was fortunate to have been able to play a part in the development of TOF neutron diffraction at the IPNS and later at the SNS,” Schultz said. “This work could not have been done without the significant participation of many colleagues and I wish to thank them for their contributions.”
Delferro and Schultz credit the inclusive and cooperative environment at Argonne with their success.
“This work could not have been done without the significant participation of many colleagues and I wish to thank you them for their contributions.” — Arthur Schultz, scientist at Argonne
“Argonne is the best place for innovation, and people are attached to the idea of solving big problems. Everyone is working towards that singular goal; I find it amazing to work in this environment,” Delferro said.
Each year, the AAAS Council elects members whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science, or its applications, are scientifically or socially distinguished.”
The honor of being elected a Fellow of AAAS began in 1874 and is acknowledged with a certificate and rosette. Additionally, the annual Fellows Forum will be held in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 21, which will celebrate the award’s 150th anniversary.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.
