Bassam Shakhashiri

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri (born 1939, Lebanon) is a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is the holder of the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair. An active advocate for science education, he is the author of multiple books of chemical demonstrations. He was the 2012 president of the American Chemical Society and has received numerous awards and honors.

Education

Shakhashiri was born in 1939 in Lebanon to Dr. Zekin A. Shakhashiri of the American University of Beirut and Adma N. Shakhashiri. The family moved to the United States in 1957. Shakhashiri attended Boston University, receiving his A.B. degree in 1960, and then earned an M.Sc. (1964) and Ph.D. (1968) in chemistry at the University of Maryland. He accepted a postdoctoral position under Gilbert P. Haight, Jr., at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and taught there for two years as a junior faculty member. In 1970 Professor Shakhashiri joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he held the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair until his retirement in 2021. He has been a member of the American Chemical Society since 1962.

Science education

Dr. Shakhashiri has given more than 1400 invited lectures and presentations around the world. Shakhashiri is a strong advocate for public education and programs that inform the public about scientific research, creating an "educated citizenry". He helped to found the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy.

Dr. Shakhashiri has spent much of his career celebrating the fun of science by giving public demonstrations at schools, fairs and on television. At UW-Madison, he directs the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy (WISL), a coalition of scientists and graduate students committed to innovating science education and engagement. The Science Is Fun! presentations at community settings such as farmers' markets, shopping malls, schools, and colleges have reached tens of thousands of students, teachers, and parents throughout Wisconsin. His annual Christmas show, "Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the Lab of Shakhashiri," inspired by lectures of 19th century scientist Michael Faraday, ran for 50 years, and has been viewed by as many as 1,400 people in one year. The institute also sponsors a scholarship for graduate students in chemistry who include a chapter in their dissertation that describes their scholarly research for a general audience.

Dr. Shakhashiri has published several books of chemistry demonstrations, including ''Manual for Laboratory Investigations in General Chemistry'' ; ''Workbook for General Chemistry''; and ''Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook for Teachers of Chemistry'', Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. His books, television broadcasts, and website have provided the source material for presentations given by hundreds of teachers during National Chemistry Week, as well as regular demonstrations by many teachers throughout the year. ''Chemical Demonstrations'' has been applauded as "a series without peer", for its "wealth of detail", "copiously illustrated, meticulously documented, and well-planned."

In 1996-97 Dr. Shakhashiri chaired two working groups which reviewed the Wisconsin Science and Math Standards.

National Science Foundation

Shakhashiri served as assistant director of the National Science Foundation for Science and Engineering Education from 1984 to 1990. In that position he obtained a four-fold budget increase for science education over a five-year period, and was credited widely with revitalizing science education programs at NSF. However, he was also anonymously criticized for having a "confrontational" style, overly personalizing policy campaigns, and introducing a political element into the grant award process. In 1990 NSF Director Erich Bloch removed Shakhashiri from his post, replacing him with Luther Williams, a move that was both applauded and protested.

American Chemical Society President

He was elected President-Elect of the American Chemical Society in 2011 and became president in January 2012. One of his initiatives while president was to create a year-long Commission on Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences, whose report, ''Advancing Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences'', recommended better preparation of Ph.D. candidates for employment, teaching communication skills for engagement in a global workplace, and inclusion of women and students from underrepresented populations.

Shakhashiri has also spoken about changes in scientific practice, in particular the ways in which boundaries between chemistry and biology are blurring as scientists learn more in those fields. More recently, he has called for active scientific discourse on climate change and other significant societal issues.

Awards and honors

Shakhashiri has received a large number of awards and honors, including the following:

* 2018 - James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry

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