Judith Currano Named American Chemical Society Fellow

Judith Currano, the head of Penn’s Chemistry Library, was elected to the 2020 class of American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellows. The fellows program began in 2009 as a way to recognize ACS members for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science.

She was elected in recognition of her devotion to teaching chemical information and making it accessible to all, her status as an international leader in chemical information, and for her service as a mentor to women in science and as Chair of the ACS Committee on Ethics.

Currano ‘s research interests center around teaching chemical information, structure-based information retrieval, and the responsible conduct of research in chemistry.  She teaches a half-credit graduate course in chemical information, CHEM 601, which is required for the PhD in Chemistry at Penn. She currently serves as the advisor to Penn's Women in Chemistry group and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC).

In 2016, she received the Special Libraries Association’s Rose L. Vormelker Award for teaching and mentoring students and professionals.