The American Crystallographic Association (ACA) recently selected Georgetown University assistant professor of chemistry Jennifer A. Swift as the recipient of the 2005 Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award. The annual award recognizes scientists who have made outstanding achievements and shown great potential in crystallographic research at early stages of their careers.

"Prof. Swift's many accomplishments in her field are impressive," said Jane McAuliffe, dean of Georgetown College. "The research she does here at Georgetown is innovative and important, and her achievement is well-deserved."

A member of Georgetown's faculty since 1999, Swift's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms by which molecular crystals nucleate and grow. Her projects are interdisciplinary, allowing her student research groups to acquire experience in several different areas of chemistry, including x-ray crystallography, atomic force microscopy, organic synthesis and computational modeling.

Swift is the Clare Boothe Luce assistant professor of chemistry at Georgetown. She teaches courses in organic chemistry and solid-state organic chemistry. Prior to joining the faculty, Swift was a chemistry graduate student at Yale University and a postdoctoral associate in the department of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota. She receives additional support for her work from the National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

Established in 2002, the award honors the memory of Margaret C. Etter, who was a major contributor to the field of organic solid-state chemistry. Nominees for the award must be no more than 10 years beyond the awarding of their PhD degree and must have begun their first independent position within the past six years.

Swift will receive the award and deliver a lecture on "The Growth and Dissolution of Cholesterol Crystals" at the annual ACA meeting in Orlando, Fla. in May 2005.

About Georgetown University

Georgetown University is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs on its three campuses. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.