Chemistry Professor Udayan Mohanty was notified in early April that he has been named to a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his theoretical studies of rare chemical reactions. He is the only U.S. chemist to receive the award and one of only 180 artists, scientists, and scholars worldwide chosen for the prestigious fellowship. According to the foundation, the award is intended to “provide Fellows with blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible.” Mohanty, pictured above in a Merkert Hall conference room on April 16 with (from left) graduate students Zuojun Guo and Qin Wang and Meghan Gibson ’11, credits his University colleagues for their support of his interdisciplinary research. “When you work on these kinds of problems that take years of work, it is important to be surrounded by people who provide you with inspiration,” he said. Mohanty has taught at Boston College since 1985.