Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Ceyer Named First Keck Professor

ENERGY CHAIR
Ceyer is First Holder Of Keck Professorship
Dr. Sylvia T. Ceyer of the Department of Chemistry, whose 
internationally recognized research in surface chemistry has important 
applications in the conversion of natural gas to useable fuels, has been 
named the first holder of the W.M. Keck Foundation Professorship in the 
field of energy.
The professorship was established in June with a grant of $1.5 million 
from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles. The foundation selected 
MIT's as the first recipient of an energy professorship. Seven other 
universities also submitted invited applications.
MIT Provost Mark S. Wrighton, the CIBA-GEIGY Professor of Chemistry, 
announced Professor Ceyer's appointment for a five-year term. He cited 
her "extraordinary accomplishments" and her potential "to make 
fundamental and transforming contributions to the Institute, 
experimental physical chemistry, and the broad field of energy."
Professor Ceyer received her BA summa cum laude in chemistry from Hope 
College (1974) and her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley 
(1979). She joined MIT in 1981. Her research into the dynamics of 
molecule-surface interactions has resulted in the observation of new 
mechanisms for dissociative chemisorption, desorption and absorption, 
and surface reactions. Her work has also extended the understanding of 
molecular precursors, identified and clarified the site conversion 
process and provided a novel method for adsorbate synthesis.
Professor Ceyer received the Baker Award for Undergraduate Teaching in 
1988, MIT's Edgerton Prize for junior faculty in 1987 and the AAUW Young 
Scholar Award in 1988. She has also been the holder of the Class of 1943 
Career Development Chair, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship and a Camille 
and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholarship. She is an editorial board member 
for the Journal of Chemical Physics, Langmuir and the Journal of 
Physical Chemistry and an executive committee member for the Gordon 
Research Conference Council, the Division of Physical Chemistry of the 
American Chemical Society and the National Research Council on Atomic, 
Molecular and Optical Sciences.
The W.M. Keck Foundation, one of the nation's largest in terms of annual 
grants, was established in 1954 by the late William M. Keck, founder of 
Superior Oil Company. He also created the W.M. Keck Trust for the 
benefit of the foundation. The foundation's primary focus is on grants 
to US universities and colleges with an emphasis in science, engineering 
and medical research. It also provides limited support, focused on 
programs serving Southern California, in the areas of community 
services, health care, precollegiate education and the arts.