Luis A. Colón has spent decades increasing diversity in the chemical sciences

Chemical and Engineering News published a profile on Luis Colón, SUNY Distinguished Professor and A. Conger Goodyear Professor in the Department of Chemistry. For the past 30 years, undergraduates from the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey (UPR-Cayey), where Colón earned his undergraduate degree, have come to UB to conduct research. Many of those students return to UB for their graduate studies under Colón’s mentorship. In 2015, in recognition of the program and his mentorship at large, he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Barack Obama, and this year he won the American Association for the Advancement of Science Lifetime Mentor Award. “The students that have come through my lab, that’s the biggest legacy. My desire is, similar to how they were influenced positively here, they also continue influencing others,” Colón said.