Gordon Hammes Scholar Award

PURPOSE: The Gordon Hammes Scholar Award was created to recognize a young scientist who published a first-author paper in Biochemistry in the previous calendar year. It is administered jointly by the Editor-in-Chief of Biochemistry and the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry to foster closer relations between the ACS Publications Divisions and the ACS Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology.

Nominations are Closed

  • The Scholar Award seeks to recognize those at the bench – undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs – for the outstanding work they do. Awards are presented at an ACS National Meeting and the winners present a lecture along with other prominent researchers in the field.

    The 2025 Winner will Receive: 

    • An award plaque

    • An honorarium of $2,000

    • Registration for ACS Fall 2025 August 17–21, Washington, DC

    • Up to US$2,500 in travel and accommodations funding to attend and present at the ACS Fall 2025 August 17 – 21, Washington, DC

    The 2025 winner is expected to submit a Perspective for publication in Biochemistry within six months of delivering their talk at ACS Fall 2025 (subject to the normal peer-review process).

  • The Gordon Hammes Scholar award was established in 2017 and is awarded alongside the Gordon Hammes Lectureship Award.

    • Self-nominations are welcome

    • Any graduate student, undergraduate, or postdoc who is the first author on a paper published in Biochemistry (as an ASAP or in an issue) during 2024 is eligible.

    • The following individuals are ineligible to be considered:

      • Current ACS Publications Editors-in-Chief, Deputy Editors, Executive Editors, Senior Editors, Associate Editors, and Topic Editors

      • Any serving selection committee member for this award

      • Former Editors-in-Chief, Executive Editors and Associate Editors of Biochemistry whose tenure with the journal ended 3 or fewer years ago (for example, for awards being given in 2025, individuals who were formerly Biochemistry editors at any point during 2022, 2023, or 2024 are ineligible for consideration).

  • Nominations must include the URL of up to 10 of the nominee's most relevant publications and a short paragraph of nomination remarks -- 500 words or fewer -- describing the nominee's research accomplishments related to this nomination. They can be submitted via an online form, which will become available when the nomination period opens up.

    (Before making a nomination, you must get the nominee's consent to share information about them as part of the nomination process. This is necessary for the American Chemical Society, ACS Publications, and the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry to comply with laws and rules around the processing of personal data.)

    Additional information is also available at the nomination form link.

  • 2025: Jianjun Cao, Monash University

    2024: Ziqi Ren, Peking University

    2023: Jacob Sieg, Pennsylvania State University

    2022: Candace Crilly, University of California, Santa Barbara

    2021: Yang (Vicky) Luo, Yale University

    2020: Can Araman, Leiden University

    2019: Kathleen Leamy, Pennsylvania State University

    2018: Timothy Bumpus, Cornell University