Meet the ACS National Award winners for 2026: Part 5

Sponsor: Endowed fund established by the ACS Northeastern SectionCitation: For defining bedrock understanding of hydrogen atom transfer reactions and related proton-coupled electron transfer processes that are pervasive throughout organic chemistry and many other fieldsCurrent position: Charlotte Fitch Roberts Professor of Chemistry, Yale UniversityEducation: AB, chemistry, Harvard University; PhD, chemistry, California Institute of TechnologyMayer on the most rewarding part of his job: “The most rewarding part of being a faculty member is to team with students and postdoctoral fellows to understand results, formulate hypotheses, plan next steps, and extract larger principles.”What Mayer’s colleagues say: “James is a leader in the field of proton-coupled electron transfer and has made many significant contributions to this field. He is an outstanding experimentalist but also takes the time to understand the theoretical aspects of his work and to develop a conceptual framework that explains his experimental data.”—Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Princeton UniversitySponsor: ACSCitation: For extraordinary efforts in presenting the chemical enterprise in a positive light to the general public and to humanities academics through podcasts, books, articles, and lecturesCurrent position: Independent scholarEducation: BA, chemistry, University of Pennsylvania; MA, chemistry, and PhD, physical chemistry, Rice UniversityCohen on the importance of science communication: “We chemists know that chemistry is the ‘central science,' but the public considers chemistry the 'scary science.' It is also largely ignored in favor of cosmology, ecology, and medicine. We must show that chemistry is worthwhile, valuable, and life-changing to non-scientists. If we cannot explain to the layperson what we do and why, is it truly