The University of Akron Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry will enhance an advanced chemistry teaching lab, thanks to a $120,000 multiyear grant from OMNOVA Solutions Foundation. This grant is the second largest single gift awarded by the foundation to the University, according to Theresa Carter, president of OMNOVA Solutions Foundation.
The new lab space will accommodate the University’s expanding chemistry department, which has seen increasing student enrollment in recent years and presently serves more than 162 undergraduate chemistry majors, 64 graduate students and 5,000-plus students from various disciplines.
Students and faculty to benefit
"The upgraded lab will complement the instruction for advanced undergraduate chemistry and chemical engineering majors and also will significantly enhance the research conducted by the department’s successful student body and internationally recognized faculty," says Dr. Kim Calvo, chair of the Department of Chemistry.
According to the National Science Foundation, UA leads Northern Ohio universities in chemical research and development and is the only university in Northern Ohio to make the National Science Foundation's top 100 rankings in this field. The department ranks in the top 20 nationally in the number of chemistry doctorates awarded per year and ranks in the top 40 percent in the area of chemical research expenditures.
About OMNOVA Solutions
OMNOVA Solutions Foundation places a priority on education support, and also provides grants for health and social services, civic causes and the arts. OMNOVA Solutions, headquartered in Fairlawn, is a technology-based company with 2010 pro forma sales of more than $1.1 billion and a work force of approximately 3,060 worldwide. OMNOVA Solutions is an innovator of emulsion polymers, specialty chemicals and decorative and functional surfaces for a variety of commercial, industrial and residential end uses.
Media contacts: Paige Poleondakis, 330-972-6482 or pep7@zips.uakron.edu, or Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.