Trinity Chemistry Professor Honored with Prestigious National Research Award

Mentorship and research have been important to Adam Urbach, Ph.D., for over 30 years, all the way back to his own days as an undergrad. Now, the Trinity University Semmes School of Science Distinguished Professor of Chemistry is being honored on a national level for his dedication to research and mentorship with students in Trinity's chemistry program.

Urbach has been named the 2026 recipient of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution, sponsored by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. This is one of the nation’s highest honors recognizing excellence in chemical research and mentorship.

Presented annually since 1986, this honor highlights faculty who combine high-level scholarship with a deep commitment to undergraduate research. One sole professor, nationwide, is selected each year. In nearly 40 years of the award, just a handful of institutions have celebrated multiple winners. With Urbach’s recognition, Trinity joins this distinguished group, with Urbach following in the footsteps of the University’s most recent recipient, chemistry professor Nancy Mills, Ph.D., who received the award in 2013.

“This award focuses on the quality of research being carried out at primarily undergraduate institutions like Trinity,” Urbach says. “I am deeply honored to receive the award, and I think it reflects directly on the Trinity’s culture of excellence in scholarship. Trinity Faculty have been doing grant-funded chemical research for more than 60 years, and my Trinity faculty mentors always emphasized the importance of the research itself. Distinctions like this should help to increase awareness of the high level of research being carried out at Trinity.”

In addition to national recognition, the award provides prize funding and research support sponsored by Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Urbach will officially receive the honor at the ACS Spring 2026 national meeting in Atlanta, where there will be a symposium in his honor.

For Urbach, the award is not just about personal achievement, but about the role Trinity plays in shaping young scientists. “Students are excited to work on important research problems, and I’m excited to work with them at this crucial time in their professional development,” he says. “It’s the first time they are actually doing science, using the scientific method to solve real problems. They are making molecules that have never been made before and discovering new things that molecules can do. Sometimes they find their passion and pursue a scientific career, but no matter what, they gain a first-hand perspective on what it takes to generate new knowledge.”

Urbach credits his own mentors for shaping his approach to teaching and research. “Each of my research mentors, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral, had an enormous influence on me as a developing scientist and human,” he recalls. “I was on the pre-med track in college and changed directions after joining Professor Jonathan Sessler’s lab as a sophomore in college. It was so incredibly interesting, a world I didn’t even know existed, and I was hooked. In grad school, my mentor, Professor Peter Dervan, had an ideal balance of being highly demanding and patient. This allowed me to grow into a careful, independent scientist under my own motivation. My postdoctoral adviser, Professor George Whitesides, exposed me to a much wider world of multidisciplinary science and pushed me to think differently about science. As a mentor, I try to take the best of these experiences, to meet each student where they are, and to encourage their growth.”

This latest honor builds on a long line of recognition for both Urbach and Trinity’s chemistry department. In addition to Mills’ ACS award in 2011, she was also named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a rare honor for faculty at undergraduate institutions. Trinity professors Michael P. Doyle (1994), and Robert V. Blystone, (1990) were also honored as AAAS fellows, and Urbach has since received the same distinction. 

Together, these types of awards underscore Trinity’s national reputation for providing students with research experiences typically associated with larger universities.

By blending rigorous scholarship with personal attention, Urbach exemplifies the distinctive strengths of Trinity’s chemistry program. His recognition from the ACS not only honors his own career but also affirms the University’s enduring commitment to opening doors for our students to discover and contribute new knowledge in their fields.