DATE: May 12, 2009

CONTACT: Joy Smith, 864-656-0471
joy@clemson.edu

WRITER: Angela Nixon, 864-656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu

Allentown resident receives Norris Medal at Clemson University

CLEMSON, S.C. — Christopher Pollock of Allentown was awarded the Norris Medal at Clemson University’s Commencement. The medal is given each year to the graduating student who is judged to be the best all-around by the university scholarships and awards committee.

Pollock received his degree in chemistry at the May 8 ceremony. Pollock is a member of Dixon Fellows and a Goldwater Scholar. He received several awards from Clemson’s chemistry department, including the Mark Bernhard Hardin Prize in Chemistry. He also received the Houghton Mifflin/ICUC Award for Achievement in Chemistry and two American Chemical Society Awards.

Pollock served as president of the Student Affiliate of the American Chemical Society and Gamma Sigma Epsilon chemistry honor society. He also was a member of the Clemson Animal Welfare Society and volunteered at the Foothills Humane Society. He served as an ambassador for the Calhoun Honors College, worked as a tutor with student-athletes in Vickery Hall and was a tutor for the PEER program to assist minority College of Engineering and Science students and WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) programs in the College of Engineering and Science.

Pollock will attend Cornell University in the fall as he pursues a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry.

The Norris Medal was established under the terms of the will of the Honorable D.K. Norris, a life trustee of Clemson.