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Chemistry professor Lon Knight Elected AAAS Fellow


Last updated December 1, 2015

By News administrator

Dr. Lon Knight

Dr. Lon Knight

Furman University chemistry professor Lon Knight has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in recognition of his accomplishments in the scientific community.

Dr. Knight was among 347 Fellows worldwide to be honored in 2015 for their contributions to innovation, education and scientific leadership.  The Fellows will be recognized in February 2016 at the AAAS annual meeting in Washington, D.C.  Election as an AAAS Fellow is bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

Knight, who joined the Furman faculty in 1971, is the Charles Ezra Daniel Professor of Chemistry at the university.  From 1981 to 2014, he served as the chair of the department, which consistently ranks among the top 10 undergraduate colleges in the country in producing Ph.D. candidates in chemistry.  He received the Alester G. Furman, Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Award for Meritorious Teaching in 2006.

Knight also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah, and has been both a Visiting Scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory and a Faculty Research Participant at the Savannah River Laboratory.  He has received the American Chemical Society Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution as well as the State Science Award for Contributions to Science.

He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers in major national and international journals, most with Furman undergraduates as co-authors.  In addition to being a member of the AAAS, he is a member of the American Chemical Society and American Physics Society.  He has also served as member of the State Science Advisory Board.

Knight is a graduate of Mercer University, and earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Florida.  He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Florida in 1970.

AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science. For more information, visit the AAAS website or contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.

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