03-078
For Release: November 19, 2003

Katherine K. Martin
Media Relations Office
216/433-2406
katherine.martin@nasa.gov

Salute to Excellence for Zeller and NASA Glenn

The Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society presented Dr. Mary V. Zeller and NASA's Glenn Research Center with the Salute to Excellence award for the numerous efforts they have made in reaching out to the community in an effort to make science fun as well as educational.

For over a dozen years, Zeller and Glenn have contributed to the Cleveland Section's National Chemistry Week (NCW) programs. From sponsoring the Cleveland Section NCW Chemistry and Poster Contests, to presenting NCW hands-on demonstration programs in the NASA Glenn Visitor Center and in numerous local libraries, to providing the printing of the NCW demonstration scripts, this partnership has allowed NCW volunteers from around the Cleveland area to reach thousands of children, their parents and their teachers with exciting and informative messages about chemistry.

"Receiving the award was quite a surprise for me," said Zeller. "It is a privilege to be recognized for the events in which I participated and helped coordinate; all have been fun as well as rewarding."

The award was part of the festivities at "Adventures in Space" which took place at the Cleveland State University Auditorium on November 1 and featured retired astronaut Guy Bluford who presented an exciting review of his numerous space shuttle missions. This was an outreach program connecting with people of all ages by allowing them to explore the chemistry of the earth's atmosphere with hands-on experiments and exciting demonstrations.

Zeller is Chief Scientist for Glenn's Instrumentation and Controls Division, Program Manager for the Glennan Microsystems Initiative and Associate Project Manager for Nanotechnology at Glenn. She has worked extensively in the fields of surface science as related to corrosion, adhesion, conducting polymers and thin film metallization for high temperature microelectronics.

After receiving a bachelor's degree from Notre Dame College, Zeller earned a master's degree from John Carroll University and her doctorate in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame.

In addition to her duties at Glenn, Zeller is an active member of the American Chemical Society, where she currently is Councilor for the national organization. Zeller is also a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Department of Chemistry of John Carroll University, a graduate faculty member and thesis co-advisor at Cleveland State University and an adjunct faculty member of the Ohio Aerospace Institute.

A print quality photo of Dr. Zeller is at:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/pressrel/2003/03-078addm.html.

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