COSAM News Articles 2020 November Merner selected as 2020 Chemical Communications Emerging Investigator

Merner selected as 2020 Chemical Communications Emerging Investigator

Published: 11/17/2020

Congratulations to Brad Merner, the S. D. and Karen H. Worley Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, for being selected as a 2020 Chemical Communications Emerging Investigator by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

“Being selected as a one of Chemical Communications Emerging Investigators for 2020 is a great honor. Chemical Communications publishes articles across all disciplines of chemistry, and for my research group’s work to be acknowledged in this way, feels fantastic,” explained Merner.

Since 2013, Merner has made an impact at Auburn University. As an organic chemist, he was selected in 2017 for a NSF CAREER award for Functionalized Bent para-Phenylenes: New Strategies and Tools for the Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes, and in 2018 he was a recipient of the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award.

“Dr. Merner was the first hire in a new generation of organic chemists to join Auburn University's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in recent years. We have been excited to witness his success," shared Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Douglas Goodwin. "Dr. Merner’s recognition as an emerging investigator by this highly regarded Royal Society journal is well deserved and is concrete evidence of his growing international reputation as a difference maker in his field. Dr. Merner’s group has creatively tackled the total synthesis of a challenging natural product. This is important because this type of compound has shown promising anticancer and antiviral properties. More than this, novel synthetic strategies such as the one executed by Dr. Merner’s group open the doors for the synthesis of other valuable compounds.”