Support an outstanding undergraduate researcher in chemistry and honor the life’s work of professor Frank Palocsay.

Chemistry professor Frank Palocsay mentored numerous students in undergraduate research during his long career at JMU. When he passed away in 2007, his wife, business professor Susan Wright Palocsay, established a scholarship in his honor.

Today the Frank Palocsay Memorial Scholarship Endowment supports an outstanding undergraduate chemistry major who is conducting research under the guidance of a faculty adviser.

Your gift to grow this endowment means that additional chemistry majors like Eric Vess (’13), who received the first Palocsay scholarship, can conduct hands-on undergraduate research that has real-world impact and help revitalize a culture of innovation and discovery.

During his Madison undergraduate career, for instance, Vess participated in the physical chemistry Havey Research Group at JMU, which uses laser spectroscopy to measure the optical properties of gases and aerosol particles that are important in atmospheric remote sensing. Essentially that means Vess and other undergraduate researchers led by chemistry professor Daniel Havey can investigate the properties of carbon dioxide, oxygen and soot particles.

The research is important for the environment and for industrial profit margins. “Consider an emissions trading system,” the Havey Group posits. “If the success of your company is tied to large sums of money paid to offset pollution, remote sensing can provide validation. And high-fidelity spectroscopic data makes remote sensing campaigns successful.”

By giving to the endowment, you honor Frank Palocsay’s legacy and support a chemistry major conducting undergraduate research on a real-world issue like air pollution.

That’s how the national model of the Engaged University operates. Your gift to the to the Frank Palocsay Memorial Scholarship Endowment makes it possible.