The Pauling Medal Award

Nominations are open for the
2023 Pauling Medal Award

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, because of the inspiration of his example. A nominee shall have made outstanding contributions to chemistry of a character that have merited national and international recognition.


Call for Nominations for the 2023 Pauling Medal Award

Nominations are being accepted for the 2023 Linus Pauling Medal Award. Sponsored jointly by the American Chemical Society Portland, Puget Sound, and Oregon Local Sections, the award is presented annually in recognition of outstanding achievement in chemistry in the spirit of and in honor of Linus Pauling, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest. The medal will be presented at a Fall 2023 symposium at the University of Puget Sound campus in Tacoma, WA. 

The award recognizes outstanding contributions to chemistry that merit national and international recognition. Nominations of women and other historically marginalized people are especially welcome. Please see below for a list of past recipients. 

Nominations are due May 16, 2023 at 5 p.m. (PDT). Nominations may be emailed as PDF attachment(s) to pauling2023noms@acspss.org or submitted through the Pauling Medal Nomination Form.

A completed nomination package will contain: 

Questions? Contact John Hanson at hanson@pugetsound.edu


2022 Winner – Dr. Cynthia J. Burrows

The 2022 Pauling Medal awardee was awarded to Professor Cynthia J. Burrows, Distinguished Professor and Thatcher Presidential Endowed Chair of Biological Chemistry at the University of Utah. Please visit Dr. Burrows’ web page at the University of Utah for information about her research, activities, and other awards.

Cynthia Burrows, 2022 Pauling Medal Winner

The 2022 Pauling Medal Symposium

The 2022 Pauling Medal was presented to Professor Burrows at the 2022 Pauling Medal Symposium, held on October 29th, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. For information about last year’s symposium, please visit the symposium page.

Information about submitting nominations for the 2023 Pauling Medal Award will be available early here in 2023.


Past 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.