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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, at The 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 established to honor Dr. A. Dean Sherry’s pivotal role in founding the Department of Chemistry at UTD. Dr. Sherry joined UTD in 1971 as one of the department’s four founding faculty members and was promoted to Full Professor in 1982. He served as Chemistry Program Head from 1979 to 1990.

In 1991, he accepted a joint appointment as a Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, maintaining active research groups on both campuses. In 2005, he became Director of the Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC) at UT Southwestern, a position he held until January 2019. From January 2020 to January 2021, he served as Interim Dean of the School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics at UTD.

Dr. Sherry was a prolific researcher, publishing 489 peer-reviewed articles, 30 book chapters, and 35 patents on topics including lanthanide-chelate chemistry, NMR of paramagnetic systems, ^13C NMR techniques for studying metabolism, and responsive MRI agents for imaging biological events in tissues.

Throughout his career, Dr. Sherry received numerous accolades. He was awarded the Wilfred T. Doherty Award in 1990 by the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society and the prestigious UTD Chancellor’s Council Outstanding Teaching Award. He was elected a Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in 2011 and won the Gold Medal Award from the World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS) in 2013. In 2015, he received the Gold Medal Award from ISMRM. Additionally, he was awarded an Honorary Doctoral Degree (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the University of Debrecen in Hungary. Most recently, he received the 2022 Harry Fischer Medal for his lifetime contributions to MRI contrast agent development.

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

Award Winners:

  • Spring 2024 – Paul Micus