PNNL's Bridges receives chemistry distinction
RICHLAND -- Novella Bridges, a chemist who helped develop processes to reduce diesel emissions in vehicles and create cancer treatments, has been named one of 14 Distinguished Women in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, or IUPAC.
The awards were made by IUPAC to mark the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Marie Sklodowska Curie.
Bridges, who has worked at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland since 2000, and the other international winners will be honored during the IUPAC World Congress in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Aug. 2.
She is a project manager in PNNL's operational planning and logistical group, where she is the training manager for the Radiation Portal Monitoring Project. It is a federal program to place radiation detection systems at all U.S. Customs and Border Protection ports of entry.
Prior to this assignment, she worked as a research scientist, primarily involved in radiochemistry separations and the development of novel catalytic systems used for bio-based products.
While at PNNL, Bridges has worked on projects designed to reduce diesel emissions in vehicles, locomotives and lightweight trucks and improve production of hydrogen for fuel cells and other advanced energy systems.
She also has worked on research that has led to development of radioactively labeled composites for cancer treatment.
Bridges earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Jackson State University in Mississippi and a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from Louisiana State University.
She has been heavily involved in advancing kindergarten through high school science education, was on the planning committee for Delta High School in Richland and also won PNNL's Fitzner-Eberhardt Award for outstanding contributions to science and engineering education.
This story was originally published May 31, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "PNNL's Bridges receives chemistry distinction ."