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Royce W. Murray, Kenan professor of chemistry, is a recipient of the North
Carolina Award for Science.
The North Carolina Awards, presented annually by the governor for
accomplishments in the fine arts, science, literature and public service, are
considered the state's highest civilian honors. Murray received his award from
Gov. Mike Easley at a banquet Nov. 5 in Raleigh.
An international leader in chemical research, Murray was cited for his work as
an outstanding educator, editor and scholar. A member of the Carolina faculty
since 1960, he has contributed to groundbreaking scientific research in such
fields as chemical sensors, microelectronics, genetics and nanoscience, and he
has influenced the careers of many graduate students now in academic positions
in chemistry around the country.
Murray has authored more than 350 publications, spanning analytical, physical,
inorganic and materials chemistry. His research accomplishments include the
introduction and development of chemically modified electrodes. He also
developed new concepts and chemical materials for exploiting surface molecular
design, and invented new ways to study and observe electrochemical reaction in
novel environments. He has served as editor-in-chief of the journal
Analytical Chemistry since 1991.
Murray has won numerous distinguished honors during his lengthy career. In
1991, Murray was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the
highest honor that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.
Last year, the University presented him with the Thomas Jefferson Award, given
to a faculty member who "through personal influence and performance of duty in
teaching, writing and scholarship has best exemplified the ideals and
objectives of Thomas Jefferson."
In September, the American Chemical Society honored Murray for his 65th
birthday with a special Festschrift issue of the Journal of Physical
Chemistry B. The issue, co-edited by chemistry professor Mark Wightman,
contains a professional biography and 46 research articles contributed by
colleagues and former students. The editors noted, "Like Jefferson, Royce has
been and is an outstanding thinker and inventor."
Murray was born in Birmingham, Ala. and first learned about scientific
experimentation from his father, an electrical expert who worked for the
Alabama Power Company.
Murray graduated from high school early (a distance runner, he was state mile
champ) and went on to graduate from Birmingham Southern College cum laude in
chemistry, after only three-and-a-half years.
He attended graduate school in chemistry at Northwestern University, completing
his studies there in only three years.
At Carolina, Murray served as chair of the Department of Chemistry, the
Curriculum in Applied and Materials Sciences, and the Division of Basic and
Applied Natural Sciences, as well as director of undergraduate studies. He now
chairs the task force for planning a state-of-the art Science Complex, which
will integrate basic and emerging sciences from the College of Arts and
Sciences and across the University.
"I am a firm believer in switching areas or emphasis every so often," Murray
wrote in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B of his personal research
philosophy. "One should always be on the lookout for something that is more
intriguing and original and less understood than what one is currently
doing."
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