Donna J. Nelson, PhD (Cherokee/Chickasaw) Position: Board Member Current Term: 2010–2012 Website: http://chem.ou.edu/~djn/djn.html

Committee Co-chair: Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) for the SACNAS News
Committee Member: AAAS Committee, Public Policy Working Group

Institution: University of Oaklahoma
Department: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Position: Associate Professor of Chemistry
Field: Organic Chemistry
Specialization: Scientific Workforce Development, Nanoscience

Dr. Donna Nelson, is an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. She took her BS in chemistry at the University of Oklahoma in 1974, obtained her PhD in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin with Michael J.S. Dewar in 1980, did her postdoctorate at Purdue University with Herbert C. Brown during 1980-1983, and joined the University of Oklahoma in 1983. She was a faculty fellow in the OU Provost’s Office 1989-1990, a visiting professor at MIT 2003, and assistant to American Chemical Society President Dr. Ann Nalley since 2005.

Dr. Nelson’s current research pertains to energy and scientific workforce development and she frequently speaks on the interrelationship of both topics. She has over 100 publications. She has received several honors, including Fulbright Scholar, NSF ADVANCE Leadership Award, SACNAS Distinguished Scientist of the Year, Women’s eNews “21 Leaders for the 21st Century,” AAAS Fellow, Guggenheim Award, National Organization for Women “Woman of Courage” Award, Ford Foundation Fellowship, Oklahoma Outstanding Professor Award, Minority Health Professions Foundation Hall of Fame Inductee, Sigma Xi Faculty Research Award, NSF Creativity Extension, and many keynote talks. In the last 4 years, she has spoken at over 100 national meetings of professional societies and organizations, US Congress Capitol Hill briefings, teleconferences, universities, and radio and TV programs, such as McNeil-Lehrer News Hour.

Her scientific workforce development research entailed surveys of faculty race/ethnicity, gender, and rank in “Top 50” departments in each of 15 science and engineering disciplines. Comparing her faculty data vs NSF PhD and BS attainment revealed that women and minorities are much less represented among professors than among degree recipients. Her faculty data are complete populations, rather than samples, so they accurately reveal the small number or absence of underrepresented groups and compare across disciplines.
> View the Nelson Diversity Surveys final report (PDF)

Her chemical research involves functionalizing single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), which has applications in energy research and technology development. Recently her group reported the first COSY NMR spectrum of covalently functionalized SWNTs.

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