August 03, 2010 
Chemical physicist is Second PNNL scientist to be acknowledged in 2010
RICHLAND, Washington - A 2nd scientist at the D.O.E.'s Pacific Northwest National Lab has been named a 2010 American Chemical Society fellow, Chemical & Engineering News reported this week.
Experimental chemical physicist Bruce D. Kay is among 192 researchers nationwide who the American Chemical Society, also known as ACS, is recognizing for their outstanding contributions to science and the profession of chemistry.
"Whether it's making new materials, finding cures for disease or developing energy alternatives, these fellows are scientific leaders, improving our lives through the transforming power of chemistry," Chemical & Engineering News quoted ACS President Joseph Francisco as saying.
Kay joins chemical engineer Yong Wang, who has a joint appointment with PNNL and Washington State University, in this year's list of ACS fellows. PNNL and WSU announced Wang's election in July.
Kay's research looks for to gain a basic understanding of how chemical reactions occur on surfaces. In particular, he examines the molecular behavior of glassy, flash-frozen water, called amorphous solid water. He freezes ultra-thin layers of water vapor onto super-cold surfaces to understand how ice molecules move and interact with others molecules. Amorphous solid water is thought to be the most common form of water in the universe, though it's not prevalent on Earth. Better understanding its behavior will help astrophysicists in their studies of stars and planets. And studying how amorphous ice behaves as it's heated is providing important information that could unravel the mysteries of terrestrial liquid water.
Kay's research also focuses on catalysis, or chemical reactions driven by catalysts. The work could make current energy sources more efficient, help the world tap alternative energy sources and reduce the environmental impact of energy use. Kay specifically explores how catalysts help break the molecular bonds of certain chemical compounds and then form other bonds to make new compounds. He looks at how oxide catalysts can more efficiently speed up reactions involving water and alcohol, among other materials.
Kay is also a fellow of several other scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the American Vacuum Society and the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry, also known as IUPAC. He joined PNNL in 1991 and is a PNNL Lab Fellow. Kay has published in excess of 130 peer-reviewed papers. He earned a doctorate in chemical physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
ACS is the world's biggest chemical science professional society. The complete list of 2010 ACS fellows can be found online at http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/88/i31/html/8831acsnews4.html
Pacific Northwest National Lab is a D.O.E. Office of Science national Lab where interdisciplinary teams advance science and technology and deliver solutions to America's most intractable problems in energy, the environment and national security. PNNL employs 4,700 staff, has an yearly budget of nearly $1.1 billion, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab's inception in 1965. Follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
