An Iowa State professor is being honored for his chemical research efforts.

Tom Barton, a distinguished professor of chemistry and director of the Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, will travel on Thursday to Joplin, Mo., to receive the Midwest Award from the American Chemical Society.

The district, which also covers Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota and Southern Illinois, presents the award in recognition of outstanding work in the chemical education or pure or applied chemistry.

Barton has been at ISU for 28 years. His duties include overseeing 600 employees and the $30 million budget of the lab.

Some of Barton’s experiments involve studying the way gas molecules react to high temperatures. Another portion of his work involves designing and synthesizing polymers for specific functions.

Though research is a big part of Barton’s job he said he still enjoys working with students when he has a chance. “Who knows what the future may hold for the students of today ,” Barton said.

The award is just the latest in a series of honors recognizing Barton’s work, including a position on the Department of Energy’s Council on Materials Science. He has already made history by being the youngest recipient of the ACS’s Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Organosilicon Chemistry in 1982.