The Pauling Medal Award

Dr. Karen Wooley,
2026 Pauling Medalist

For outstanding contributions to chemistry
meriting national and international recognition, the 2026 Pauling Medal has been awarded to Professor Karen Wooley, Distinguished Professor, W. T. Doherty-Welch Chair in Chemistry, Texas A&M University
 

Karen Wooley
2026 Pauling Medal Winner

Information about the 2026 Pauling Medal Award Symposium and Banquet

The 2026 Pauling Medal will be presented to Professor Karen Wooley at the 2026 Pauling Medal Symposium on November 7, 2026, at Portland State University in Portland, OR, in recognition of her pioneering studies. 

The symposium will include lectures by eminent scientists and the awardee, a student poster session, a reception, and an evening banquet with presentation of the Pauling Medal to Professor Wooley. Download a preliminary flyer here.

Symposium

1:00 PM Saturday, November 7, 2026
Portland State University
George C. Hoffmann Hall
1833 SW 11th Avenue
Portland OR 97201

Speakers

The symposium is free and open to the public (no registration required). The Award Banquet will require purchase of a banquet ticket. Further information about registration and banquet reservations will be posted here as it becomes available.

Please direct any questiopns.to Jim Tung, 2026 Pauling Medal Award Chair, at jimtung@gmail.com.

The Pauling Medal Award recognizes outstanding achievement in chemistry and is presented annually by the Puget Sound, Oregon, and Portland Sections of the American Chemical Society. The award is named after Dr. Linus Pauling, a native of the Pacific Northwest, in the spirit of and in honor of Linus Pauling, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest. A nominee shall have made outstanding contributions to chemistry of a character that have merited national and international recognition. A list of past recipients, a number of whom have also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, is below.

For information about nominating someone for a future Pauling Medal Award, please see below.

Nominations for the 2027 Linus Pauling Medal Award will be accepted in 2027

The American Chemical Society Portland, Puget Sound, and Oregon Local Sections accepted nominations for the 2026 Linus Pauling Medal Award until May 1, 2026. These local sections jointly present the award annually to acknowledge outstanding contributions to chemistry that merit national and international recognition—in the spirit of and in honor of Linus Pauling, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest. The Linus Pauling Medal Award will be presented to the 2026 winner at a symposium in the fall of 2026 in the Portland area. Nominations for the 2027 Linus Pauling Medal will be accepted in 2027.

Nominations of women and other people from historically marginalized groups are especially welcome. Nominations should be submitted as PDF attachments by email to the 2027 Pauling Medal Award Chair (TBD info to be posted here when available). Questions about the award or nomination may also be directed to the the chairs of the three sponsoring ACS local sections (Oregon, Portand, and Puget Sound).

Information about the 2025 Pauling Medal Recipient

The 2025 Pauling Medal was Awarded to
Professor Joseph S. Francisco

The 2025 Pauling Medal was presented to Professor Joseph S. Francisco at the 2025 Pauling Medal Symposium on October 18, 2025, at Seattle University in Seattle, WA, in recognition of his pioneering studies of the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere. Professor Francisco’s groundbreaking research reshaped our fundamental understanding of atmospheric processes, including pioneering air-water/microdroplet chemistry. 

The symposium included lectures by eminent scientists and the awardee (titles below), a student poster session including 25 posters from around the Pacific Northwest, a reception, and an evening banquet with presentation of the Pauling Medal to Professor Francisco. Download the press release here. All events were free and open to the public except for the evening banquet, which was a ticketed event.

The 2025 Pauling Medal Symposium was organized by Seattle University colleagues Ann McNally, Kristy Skogerboe, Eric Watson, and Isa Galligar. For questions and other information about the 2025 Pauling Medal Symposium, please contact the Symposium Co-Chairs Ann McNally or Eric Watson . For questions about the poster session, please contact Doug Latch. Many thanks in advance to our Seattle University colleagues for hosting the 2025 symposium.

Information about the 2024 Pauling Medal Recipient

The 2024 Pauling Medal was awarded to Professor Younan Xia

The 2024 Pauling Medal was awarded to Professor Younan Xia, Brock Family Chair and GRA Eminent Scholar in Nanomedicine at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The award was presented to Professor Xia at the Pauling Medal Symposium on October 12, 2024. The symposium was held in the Linus Pauling Science Center on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.

Go to the 2024 Pauling Medal Symposium website for further information.

The Poster Session, Symposium Talks, and Reception were free and open to the public. The Awards Banquet was a ticketed event. Use the 2024 Pauling Medal Symposium website to register to present a poster and to purchase a ticket for the banquet.

Here is a flyer for the 2024 symposium.

For information about the 2024 symposium, please contact:
Dr. Richard L Nafshun
Richard.Nafshun@oregonstate.edu
Department of Chemistry
Oregon State University

The American Chemical Society Portland, Puget Sound, and Oregon Local Sections jointly sponsor this annual award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to chemistry that merit national and international recognition.  This award is named after double Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

For information about the 2023 award and symposium, please visit the 2023 Pauling Medal Symposium page.

Recipients of the Linus Pauling Medal Award

For general information about submitting nominations for future Pauling Medal Awards, please contact the chair of one of the sponsoring ACS local sections: Puget Sound, Portland, and Oregon.

For further information about Linus Pauling, please see the Pauling Archives and Research Center at Oregon State University.

The Pauling Medal web page is hosted by the Puget Sound Section on behalf of the three ACS local sections that sponsor the award (Puget Sound, Portland, and Oregon). For information about this page contact acspugetsoundsection at gmail.