An Iowa State alum was recently honored for her achievements in science teaching and research.

Susannah Scott, a chemistry professor at the University of Ottawa at Ontario, Canada, received the Cottrell Scholar Award for her research on reactions on solid surfaces. As a Cottrell scholar recipient, Scott was awarded $50,000.

Jim Espenson, distinguished professor of chemistry at ISU, said Scott won this award on her outstanding graduate record.

“The Cottrell is a competitive and prestigious award,” Espenson said.

The Cottrell Award is sponsored by the Research Corporation to recognize scientists who are in their first three years of a faculty job and who show promise. The Research Corporation added the teaching requirement this year.

Espenson said Scott’s innovative teaching style helped qualify her for the Cottrell. Scott tries to avoid the lecture-style approach to teaching.

Instead, she said she focuses on issue-based ideas so students see chemistry problems in a social context.

Espenson said Scott, who received her Ph.D from ISU, is using the award money to help with her research on reactions on solid surfaces.

She is researching chemical reactions that could lead to different ways of manufacturing from petroleum by using spectroscopic techniques on short-lived intermediates.

Scott is one of 22 people to receive the Cottrell this year. She is also one of only two professors in Canada to receive the award.

Along with the Cottrell, Scott was named one of the the most interesting 100 Canadians to watch in Macleans magazine.

Espenson said it “is a major honor to be named in the top 100 people to watch.”