Bassman Honors Thesis Award winner announced

Hannah G. Woolard is the winner of the 2015-2016 Michael F. Bassman Honors Thesis Award, which recognizes students in East Carolina University’s Honors College for excellence in research and writing.

“Finishing off my senior year at ECU by receiving the Michael F. Bassman Honors College Thesis Award was a very special and rewarding moment,” Woolard said. “I am most overjoyed to receive this award because it honors the most knowledgeable advisor, exceptional role model, and caring professor, Dr. Bassman.”

Woolard poses with Dr. Michael F. Bassman, for whom the award is named. (Contributed photo)

Woolard’s research involved studying the different steps, or mechanism, of a new type of rare and highly selective reaction. The reaction converts cycloplatinated complexes (platinum-based compounds) into products that can be utilized for things like biological imaging and cancer research.

“The research I completed for my senior honors project investigating cycloplatinated complexes is extremely valuable to many fields of science,” Woolard said. “The discovery of the mechanism behind this reaction provides synthetic chemists with an important tool.”

Until now, the details of the mechanism had never been reported in literature. Her award-winning work was completed under the direction of Dr. Shouquan Huo, a chemistry professor in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.

Woolard graduated from ECU in May with a B.S. in Public Health and a B.A. in chemistry and is preparing to apply to medical school. She attended D.H. Conley High School and is the daughter of John and Gray Woolard of Greenville.

The award is sponsored by ECU’s Joyner Library and honors Dr. Michael F. Bassman, associate professor of Foreign Languages & Literatures, former associate vice chancellor of the Honors Program and its first Distinguished Honors Professor.