Nanomaterial Scientist Felicitated with Dual Awards

Dr. Debra Rolison, a scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), has been felicitated with two awards for advancements in the field of chemistry.

The Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry presented the Charles N. Reilley Award to Rolison for her remarkable work in the field of analytical chemistry on March 12, 2012 at the Pittcon conference. The Chemical Society of Washington awarded the Hillebrand Prize to her for extending the scientific boundaries of nanostructured materials on March 22, 2012.

Dr. John N. Russell, Jr., who is the Head of the NRL Surface Chemistry Branch, praised Dr. Rolison as a creative and productive researcher, and an inborn leader, who is creating interest for science and research in people. The basis of all of Rolison’s work is her interest to study complicated nanostructured systems, an indistinct physicochemical environ.

Rolison attended Florida Atlantic University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she earned a bachelor degree in chemistry and a doctorate degree in chemistry, respectively. She then joined the NRL as a government scientist in 1980. Since then, she has been working with the NRL.

Rolison’s research concentrates on multifunctional nanostructured materials for use in rate-critical applications, including sensors, energy storage and conversion, porous magnets, biomolecular composites, and catalysis. Her latest research achievements focus on engineering easy transportation of molecules, ions and electrons in high-surface-area, ultra-porous, multifunctional materials.

Rolison is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the Association for Women in Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Materials Research Society. She received the A.K. Doolittle and the R.A. Glenn Awards from the American Chemical Society’s Polymer Materials Science and Engineering and Fuel Divisions, respectively.