91传媒 chemistry faculty member honored for early career success, prominence in field
Contact: John Burrow
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 Mississippi State faculty member is the recipient of the 2020 Thieme Chemistry Journal Award acknowledging his respected reputation and early success in the field of chemistry.
Xin Cui, an assistant professor in 91传媒鈥檚 Department of Chemistry, is being recognized for his laboratory research on organic chemistry, catalysis and medicinal chemistry.
Presented yearly to researchers worldwide who are in the early stages of their academic careers, recipients of the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award are selected by the editorial board members of Synthesis, Synlett, and Synfacts, an in-print and e-journal. First presented in 1999, the award 鈥渁ims to send a sign of recognition and career encouragement to a new generation of organic chemists.鈥
鈥淭his is an outstanding recognition by an expert peer leadership group of organic chemistry journal editors related to Dr. Cui鈥檚 science,鈥 said Dennis W. Smith Jr., 91传媒 professor and head of the chemistry department. Smith said the award 鈥渞epresents an unprecedented junior achievement in the Department of Chemistry.鈥
Cui鈥檚 work seeks to explore 鈥渘ew chemical processes that utilize earth-abundant and biocompatible catalysts to construct value-added molecules in a rapid and selective manner,鈥 Smith explained.
鈥淭he research aims to invent new catalysis to enable challenging chemical processes for making pharmaceutically important molecules,鈥 Cui said. 鈥淲hile our development addresses cost-effectiveness and step-and-atom-economy of chemical synthesis, rapidly creating specific enantiomers in a highly stereoselective manner is the focus from both application and fundamental understanding aspects.鈥
Cui鈥檚 research provides new tools 鈥渇or making complex structures and building blocks that are biologically and pharmaceutically valuable.鈥
鈥淭he current work helped us with further understanding,鈥 Cui said. 鈥淲e are continuing to expand the initial synthetic toolbox for constructing a number of complex organic structures.鈥
Cui鈥檚 award includes a one-year complimentary subscription to Synthesis, Synlett, and Synfacts, as well as a certificate.
A native of China, Cui received his Ph.D. in 2008 and his bachelor鈥檚 degree in 2003, both in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China. In 2012, he finished a postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He then accepted a position as a research assistant professor at USF before joining the faculty at Baruch College at the City University of New York. He joined 91传媒鈥檚 faculty in 2016.
91传媒鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,200 students, 325 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs, 14 master鈥檚 programs, and 27 undergraduate academic majors offered in 14 departments. For more details about the College of Arts and Sciences or the Department of Chemistry visit or .
91传媒 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .