Research Corporation for Science Advancement has named three Cottrell Scholars as recipients of its 2026 STAR and IMPACT Awards. CS 2012 Sara Skrabalak, Chemistry, Indiana University Bloomington, has won the STAR Award, and CS 2014 Jennifer Prescher, Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, and CS 2008 Tehshik Yoon, Chemistry, University of Wisconsin – Madison, have won IMPACT Awards.
“These exceptional teacher-scholars exemplify what the Cottrell Scholar community is about,” said RCSA Senior Program Director Silvia Ronco. “As they have advanced in their careers, their leadership in research, teaching, mentoring, and advocacy has extended far beyond their own classrooms and campuses.”
The STAR (Science Teaching And Research) Award recognizes outstanding research and educational accomplishments, while the IMPACT Award recognizes leadership and service that has had a national impact in science. Both awards, given annually, are open to Cottrell Scholar and Holland Award recipients and include a $5,000 cash prize.
The awards will be presented, and recipients will give brief acceptance talks, at the 2026 Cottrell Scholar Conference, to be held July 8-10, 2026, in Tucson, Arizona.
STAR and IMPACT Award nominees must be a Cottrell Scholar at least 12 years beyond the year of their original Cottrell Scholar award, or a Holland Awardee regardless of the year of their award. They must also hold an academic position at a research university or primarily undergraduate institution in the United States or Canada.
STAR awardee Sara Skrabalak is an outstanding scientist and scientific leader whose boundary-pushing research spans multiple material classes, including metals, mixed-metal oxides, and heteroanionic materials, and addresses applications in catalysis, solar energy conversion, chemical sensing, and secure electronics. Her commitment to mentorship has fostered a thriving research group, attracting students who are drawn not only to the excellence of the research but also to the group’s culture. In leadership roles at her institution and beyond, she has scaled effective mentoring practices and helped equip other faculty with the tools to become effective teachers and mentors. She is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry of Materials and ACS Materials Letters and was recently awarded a National Science Foundation CCI Phase 2 Award for the Center for Single-Entity Nanochemistry and Nanocrystal Design.
IMPACT awardee Jennifer Prescher is an influential chemist whose work spans innovative chemical biology research, community leadership, and national service, significantly shaping her field. Her research centers on creating new chemical tools at the interface of chemistry and biology — developing fundamentally new bioorthogonal reactions, rigorously characterized labeling chemistries, and innovative luciferin–luciferase probe systems — that together enable sensitive, multicolor, and noninvasive imaging of molecular processes, cellular communication, and dynamic events in living systems, from metabolism and host–pathogen interactions to neuronal signaling and RNA dynamics. Prescher has created pioneering courses and curriculum that others have admired and emulated, and she is a prolific organizer of national meetings, workshops, and symposia that bring together the chemical biology community and foster both collaboration and innovation. She is an associate editor of ACS Chemical Biology.
IMPACT awardee Tehshik Yoon is a distinguished chemist recognized worldwide for his pioneering scientific contributions in the area of photoredox catalysis, his leadership, and his advocacy for LGBTQ+ inclusion in science, with a focus on fostering visibility, diversity, and global outreach to address systemic challenges and underrepresentation in STEM. He has held prominent service roles, including Associate Editor for ACS Catalysis and Organic Synthesis, co-chair of the Editorial Advisory Board for ChemPhotoChem, and member of the Board of Editors for Science of Synthesis. As a visible LGBTQ+ scientist, Yoon has chaired the national ACS Subdivision for LGBTQ+ chemists, organizing symposia for LGBTQ+ students, postdocs, and industrial scientists, and guest-editing an award-winning special issue of C&EN News highlighting LGBTQ+ Trailblazers in Chemistry.
Founded in 1912, Research Corporation for Science Advancement is the nation’s first private foundation solely dedicated to science, supporting early stage, high-potential basic research in the physical sciences (astronomy, chemistry, physics, materials, as well as adjacent fields) at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It creates and supports engaged communities of early career researchers through the Cottrell Scholar Program, Scialog, and the RCSA Fellows initiative.