ACS 2006

For immediate release:

Cal State L.A. Professor Honored
as Top Faculty Mentor in Chemistry

California State University, Los Angeles’ chemistry professor Carlos G. Gutiérrez (Monrovia resident) will be presented The Stanley C. Israel Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences at a special symposium held in his honor TOMORROW—Tuesday, January 24—during the American Chemical Society (ACS) Western Regional Meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in Anaheim, California.

The prestigious award consists of a medal and a $1,000 grant to support and further the activities for which the award was made. The symposium will feature current research topics conducted by Professor Gutiérrez’s former students, the award presentation, and a keynote address by Gutiérrez entitled “The Research Laboratory as Context for Student and Faculty Career Development.”

The ACS Committee on Minority Affairs (CMA) selected Professor Gutiérrez for this honor in recognition of his lifelong dedication and leadership in support of under-represented students in the academic community. The award committee wrote: “Dr. Gutiérrez’ efforts and dedication as a mentor and his persuasive work on creating a support network for the underrepresented minorities in the scientific professions, leading to the establishment of the Committee on Minority Affairs of the ACS are the best tribute to the ideals and the memory of Stan Israel.”

Founded in 1876, the American Chemical Society is a self-governed individual membership organization that consists of more than 158,000 members at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry. The organization provides a broad range of opportunities for peer interaction and career development, regardless of professional or scientific interests.

Carlos Gutiérrez
In his 30 years at Cal State L.A., Professor Carlos Gutiérrez has mentored several hundred students through programs funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation, and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Gutiérrez is the director of Cal State L.A.’s NIH Minority Access to Research Careers and Minority Biomedical Research Support programs, and faculty coordinator and mentor for its Beckman Scholars program.

Gutiérrez, whose Ph.D. is from UC Davis, has served on and chaired various NIH committees, subcommittees and the NIGMS Council, and is a member of the National Research Council Board on Higher Education Workforce, and the California Council on Science and Technology. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a National Associate of the National Academies of Science and the National Research Council.

Gutiérrez’ research straddles the interface between organic, inorganic and biological chemistry and focuses on iron acquisition and transport in bacteria. He has published numerous articles, all with student coauthors. In great part through his effort, the American Chemical Society (ACS) established the Committee on Minority Affairs in 1993, with Gutiérrez serving as its first chair. During his tenure as chair, the Society also established the ACS Minority Scholars Program, a $10 million scholarship program for undergraduates, and the ACS Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students to Pursue Careers in Chemical Sciences. Gutiérrez helped to establish the ACS Scholars Program in 1995, and has been active on its behalf since its inception. This scholarship program has supported the career development of more than 1,400 undergraduates.

He was most recently named the 2005 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in the Master’s University and College category. He was also the recipient of the 2005 Education Award of the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award Corporation (HENAAC).

In 1996, he was among the first individuals named by the President of the United States to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, conferred at a White House ceremony. Additionally, he has received a 1999 Scholar-Fellow award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation; the Quality Education for Minorities in Mathematics, Science and Engineering (QEM/MSE) Network’s Year 2000 MSE Giants in Science Award; the 2001 American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences; and the 2003 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Lifetime Mentor Award. He was one of four CSU faculty members selected for the $20,000 systemwide CSU Wang Family Excellence Award in 2000. He received an award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the educational film, Antimatter.

A CSULA President’s Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Gutiérrez also received the University’s Outstanding Professor Award; the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Cal State L.A. chapter of the national honor society Phi Kappa Phi; and the Cal State L.A. Hispanic Support Network Outstanding Educator Award. He is particularly proud of the “Honored Faculty Award” given him by the Associated Students of Cal State L.A., and of the 2005 Outstanding Chemistry Professor Award from the students of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Gutiérrez is married to Cal State L.A. Chemistry Professor Linda M. Tunstad and is the father of daughters, Naomi Gabriela and Carolina Aurora.

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 185,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu