Warwick Chemistry student Alex White has been selected to judge a national chemistry prize despite the fact that he has only just commenced his first year of undergraduate studies for a Masters Degree in Chemistry at the University of Warwick.

He has just heard that he has been selected as a judge for the UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair. The National finals of this competition will be held in London over 3 days in for March 2009.

He has been selected for this prestigious role after wining the National Chemistry prize and the prestigious Intel Award at the UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair in February for a project in which he examined the use of layered double hydroxides as catalysts for bromination of chemical compounds – which is safer and more environmentally friendly than the traditional method which uses elemental bromine. Bromination of molecules is used widely within chemical industry e.g. manufacture of certain pharmaceuticals and flame retardant materials.

He then represented the UK at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, USA, where he was competing against 1,500 students. He received two awards at that event: second place in the American Chemical Society Prize and fourth overall in the main Chemistry Awards. These outstanding achievements in chemistry at such a young age led the judges to ask him to join them as one of the judging panel at the 2009 UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair.

Note for editors: High res photographs of Alex in a chemistry lab at the University of Warwick are available. Alex can be contacted via Peter Dunn.

For further information please contact:

Peter Dunn, Press and Media Relations Manager,
Communications Office, University House University of Warwick,
Coventry CV4 8UW
024 76 523708 or 07767 655860
email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk

PR92c PJD 25th November 2008