Christopher Jaroniec, PhD, arts and sciences distinguished professor and associate dean for research and creative inquiry in the College of Arts and Sciences, has earned The Ohio State University 2026 Distinguished Scholar Award. Senior leadership in the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge recently surprised Jaroniec with the honor.
“While this is an individual award, it really is a recognition of my entire research group,” said Jaroniec.
“I've been at OSU for 20 years now, and during this time I have had the pleasure of working with over 40 outstanding PhD students and postdocs. It is really their amazing work which is being recognized, and I'm glad to see some of them here this morning. Ohio State has been a wonderful place to work at and the support that I have received over the years from my department, the college and the broader university really could not have been better.”
Jaroniec’s research is focused on the development of multidimensional magic-angle spinning solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques and their application to the analysis of molecular structure, conformational dynamics and intermolecular interactions of otherwise intractable biological macromolecules that are of fundamental importance to human health with the goal of understanding biological mechanism and function.
"You’ve made outstanding contributions to both cutting-edge solid-state NMR methodology and pioneering applications of NMR spectroscopy,” said John M. Horack, vice president for research. “These discoveries are helping all of us better understand human health and disease.”
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences David Horn added “We are so fortunate to have an associate dean of research who leads by example. Your distinguished scholarship helps us advance the research and creative mission of the whole college.”
“Chris studies how proteins within the body can organize themselves into fibrils and amyloid plaques leading to neurodegenerative disease, and he has made major impacts in those areas – he’s doing work that's really quite significant for human health,” added Susan Olesik, divisional dean of mathematical and natural sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Jaroniec joined Ohio State in 2006, was named Evans Scholar in 2013 and College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2021. He is associate director of the Campus Chemical Instrument Center Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility, where he directs the operations of cutting-edge high-field solid-state NMR instruments. He has received multiple national and international research awards including the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award in Analytical Chemistry, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Founders' Medal from the International Council on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, the Varian Young Investigator Award in Magnetic Resonance, the ACS Akron Section Award and the ACS Physical Division Early-Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry, and he was elected as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Jaroniec earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Kent State University and his doctorate in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.
The Distinguished Scholar Award is among the highest annual honors awarded at Ohio State. The university-level award annually honors six faculty members who demonstrate scholarly activity, conduct research or creative works that represent exceptional achievements in their fields and garner distinction for the university.
Award recipients are nominated by their departments and chosen by a committee of senior faculty, including past award recipients. Distinguished Scholars receive an honorarium and a research grant to be used over the next three years.
Quotes from Jaroniec’s nomination:
“I am very impressed with Chris’ accomplishments during his graduate career, as a postdoctoral fellow at NIH, and during his independent career as a faculty member at Ohio State where he has developed an intellectually vibrant research program. He is a very talented individual who has the intellect, personal motivation, and focus to bring research projects to fruition. Chris is clearly the best graduate student I have had in my group, and he will succeed in whatever he tries. In short, Chris Jaroniec is one of the young stars (if not THE young star) in the solid state NMR community. We have seen great things from him in the last few years, and we can expect additional stellar contributions in the future.,” Robert Griffin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Another highly prominent and exciting part of Chris’s program is the development of methods and applications of solid-state NMR spectroscopy to study large amyloid fibril aggregates of human prion proteins. This work has significant implications for human health and the understanding of the structural basis of neurodegenerative disorders caused by prion proteins. …Chris’s work is absolutely top-notch, from the technical execution of the studies to his choice of experimental approaches and the insights these experiments brought to the field.,” Tatyana Polenova, University of Delaware.
“I have admired Chris’ work in biomolecular solid state NMR since his initial development of frequency-selective REDOR techniques as a PhD student and continuing through his more recent development of paramagnetic relaxation methods for solid state NMR, his studies of prion protein structure, and most recently his pioneering solid state NMR studies of nucleosomes and DNA structures…Jaroniec's contributions include powerful and widely used methods as well as groundbreaking applications that expand the impact of solid state NMR in biomolecular sciences.” Robert Tycko, National Institutes of Health.