Vy Maria Dong facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Vy Dong
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Vy Maria Dong
1976 (age 48–49) |
| Alma mater | University of California, Irvine B.S. (1998) California Institute of Technology Ph.D. (2003) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Organic chemistry |
| Institutions | University of California, Irvine (2012-present) University of Toronto (2006-2012) University of California, Berkeley (2004-2006) |
| Thesis | Novel Variants of the Zwitterionic Claisen Rearrangement and the Total Synthesis of Erythronolide B (2003) |
| Doctoral advisor | David MacMillan |
| Other academic advisors | Larry E. Overman, Robert G. Bergman, Ken Raymond |
Vy Maria Dong (born in 1976 in Big Spring, Texas) is a famous Vietnamese-American chemistry professor. She teaches at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
Professor Dong is known for her work in creating new chemical reactions. She focuses on making specific types of molecules, especially those found in nature. She has won many important awards for her research. These include the Merck, Sharp & Dohme Award in 2020 and the Elias James Corey Award in 2019.
Early Life and Education
Vy Dong was born in Big Spring, Texas in 1976. She spent her early years there before moving to Anaheim, California, with her family.
She was the first person in her family to go to college. She chose to study chemistry at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). A class with Professor Larry E. Overman helped her decide to major in chemistry. She even did research with him as an undergraduate student. Vy Dong graduated with high honors from UCI in 1998.
For her advanced studies, she went to the University of California, Berkeley. She joined Professor David MacMillan's research group. She then moved with him to the California Institute of Technology, where she earned her PhD in 2004. Her PhD work involved creating new ways to build complex molecules.
After her PhD, Dong returned to UC Berkeley. She worked as a research fellow with Professors Robert G. Bergman and Ken Raymond. There, she focused on designing special molecules that could hold and stabilize other reactive chemicals in water.
Research and Discoveries
Professor Dong started her own research group in 2006 at the University of Toronto in Canada. Her early work there focused on making special ring-shaped molecules called `heterocycles`. These are important for creating new medicines.
She found a way to make `lactones` (another type of ring molecule) from simpler chemicals. She used `rhodium` (a metal) as a `catalyst`. A catalyst helps chemical reactions happen faster without being used up itself. Her method was very efficient and created no waste. In 2011, she became a distinguished professor at the University of Toronto.
In 2013, Professor Dong moved her research group to the University of California, Irvine (UCI). At UCI, she continued to develop new chemical reactions. One important area is `hydroacylation`, which involves adding hydrogen and a carbon chain to molecules.
She showed that `rhodium catalysts` could be used to make `cyclic peptides`. These are ring-shaped protein pieces. This was special because she started with simple building blocks. Her work helps create new molecules useful in medicine. She also developed a way to link two different types of molecules, `aldehydes` and `alkynes`, using a special `rhodium catalyst` system. Professor Dong is always looking for new ways to build complex molecules.
Awards and Honors
Professor Dong has received many awards for her amazing work in chemistry.
- In 2008, she received an Ontario Research Fund grant.
- She gave the first Eli Lilly Young lecture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2009.
- She was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship in 2009.
- In 2010, she was named an Amgen Young Investigator.
- She also won the AstraZeneca Award in Chemistry in 2010.
- The American Chemical Society gave her an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in 2010.
- In 2011, she won the Roche Excellence in Chemistry award.
- She received a Novartis Chemistry Lecturer award in 2012.
- In 2013, she earned a lectureship from the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry in Japan. She also received a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
- In 2016, she won the Iota Sigma Pi Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award for her research on `hydroacylation`.
- She received the UCI's Distinguished Alumni Award in 2018.
- In 2019, she won the American Chemical Society's Elias James Corey Award.
- The Royal Society of Chemistry gave her the Merck, Sharp & Dohme Award in 2020.
Since 2015, Professor Dong has also been an editor for the journal Chemical Science.
Personal Life
Vy Dong met her husband, Wilmer Alkhas, at the University of California, Irvine. They have a son named Liam.
See also
In Spanish: Vy Maria Dong para niños
