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Chemistry and Biochemistry

A. Dean Sherry Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Biochemistry Research

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, in the School of Natural Science and Mathematics, University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), has created the A. Dean Sherry Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Biochemistry Research to recognize a Chemistry or Biochemistry undergraduate student who has demonstrated academic excellence in the field of Biochemistry.  The award will be given to an outstanding senior B.S. in Chemistry or Biochemistry major, during the Spring semester. The awardee will receive a plaque and a check for $500.

This award was created to recognize Dr. A. Dean Sherry’s contribution to the creation of the Department of Chemistry at UTD. Dr. Sherry joined UTD in 1971 as the first-of-four founding faculty in the Department of Chemistry. He was promoted to Full Professor in 1982. He served as Chemistry Program Head between 1979 and 1990. In 1991, he accepted a half-time appointment as a Professor of Radiology at UT-Southwestern Medical Center, where he worked half-time while maintaining active research groups on both campuses.  In 2005, he was named Director of the Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC) at UT Southwestern Medical Center, a position he held until Jan. 2019. From January 2020 through January 2021, he served as Interim Dean of the School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics at UTD. Dr. Sherry published 489 peer-reviewed research articles, 30 book chapters, and 35 patents on various topics, including lanthanide-chelate chemistry, NMR of paramagnetic systems, the use of 13C NMR techniques to follow intermediary metabolism in isolated tissues and intact animals, and responsive MRI agents for imaging specific biological events in tissues. Dr. Sherry won multiple awards during his tenure at UTD. He received the Wilfred T. Doherty Award in 1990 from the Dallas Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society. He was also recognized with the prestigious UTD Chancellor’s Council Outstanding Teaching Award. In 2011, he was elected a Fellow International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), and in 2013, he won the Gold Medal Award from the World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS). Professor Sherry won the Gold Medal Award from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in 2015. He received an Honorary Doctoral Degree (Doctors Honoris Causa) from the University of Debrecen (Hungary). Most recently, Dr. Sherry won the 2022 Harry Fischer Medal for lifetime contributions to the development of MRI contrast agents.

Nomination portfolio must include:

Nominee’s CV including:

  1. Academic GPA
  2. list of publications or a research statement (1page)
  3. evidence of community engagement and leadership
  4. conferences attended / presented
  5. professional activities

Letters of support from faculty (recommend obtaining one letter). Faculty may submit the letter directly to amandeep.sra@utdallas.edu

Nominations will be accepted until April 1st of the current year and the award will be presented before spring graduation.

All materials will be submitted using the following link: Click here