Kim Renee Dunbar

Texas A&M Chemist Kim Renee Dunbar adds another accolade to a decorated and renowned career in Chemistry

Globally renowned Texas A&M chemist, Kim Renee Dunbar, was named a Royal Society of Chemistry Fellow in 2018. The honor is another of the many awards and accomplishments of Dunbar recognizing her outstanding contributions to chemistry research over the past 25 years.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, based in the UK, brings together chemists from all over the world, with 54,000 members. The Royal Society of Chemistry is a not-for-profit organization that was founded nearly 175 years ago at the intersection of industry, academia, and government to shape the future of chemical science and promote the talent, information and ideas that lead to great advances in science for the betterment of humanity.

Other Texas A&M chemists who have received the honor include Sarbajit Banerjee (2016), Hongcai Joe Zhou (2015), Marcetta Y. Darensbourg (2014), Kevin Burgess (2013), Abraham Clearfield (2013), François P. Gabbaï (2013) and James D. Batteas (2012).

Dr. Simon W. North, professor and head of Texas A&M Chemistry praised Dunbar saying, “Kim is widely recognized as an international leader in the field of inorganic chemistry…Not only has she made seminal contributions in several areas, she has an outstanding record of service to the scientific community.”

At the end of 2018 Kim Renee Dunbar was selected to receive the 2019 Basolo Award. The Basolo Medal is awarded annually by Northwestern University and the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society in recognition of outstanding research in inorganic chemistry. The award is named after Frank Basolo, the late Northwestern Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, who made significant contributions to the advancement of inorganic chemistry and served as President of the American Chemical Society in 1983.

On winning the Basolo Medal, Kim Renee Dunbar said, “I am deeply honored to receive this medal. The list of previous recipients includes many of my inorganic chemistry idols, mentors and friends. I knew Fred Basolo quite well, and he took an interest in me when I was a young professor. He and I had many long talks, and he regaled me with stories about the history of coordination chemistry. He was a wonderful role model and an inspiration to me.”

Kim Renee Dunbar joined the Department of Chemistry of Texas A&M in 1999 after serving on the faculty at Michigan State University for 12 years where she was named a University Distinguished Professor in 2006. In 2015, Dunbar received the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry, the second female recipient of the ACS’s top award for inorganic chemistry in its 52-year history and has served as an Associate editor of the ACS inorganic Chemistry journal for many years. A leader in both chemical research and education, Kim Renee Dunbar is the first female Texas A&M Former Students’ Network (WFSN) Eminent Scholar Award winner. In 2012, Dunbar was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from her undergraduate alma mater at Westminster College in New Wilmington in 2012. Prior to that, in 2004, Texas A&M named Dunbar the first Davidson Professor of Science and joint holder of the Davidson Chair in Science, meriting particular distinction as the first female chair holder in the College of Science.