The Academia Europaea is a European, non-governmental association acting as an academy. Its members are scientists and scholars who collectively aim to promote learning, education and research.
The method of election of new members is based on a nomination by existing members. Any member of the Academia may nominate a new member from any discipline or any country.
"I am delighted to be elected to such a prestigious institution," said Bertrand. "While it reminds me that I am still European, I think it is a nice way to make UC Riverside even more visible on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean."
Bertrand is an internationally renowned scientist who emigrated in July 2001 from France's national research agency, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), to UC Riverside. He is the director of the UCR-CNRS Joint Research Chemistry Laboratory, a partnership that allows chemists from CNRS to make UC Riverside their permanent home while maintaining their CNRS affiliation. The UCR-CNRS is the first permanent French Science laboratory in the United States.
Bertrand's laboratory at UC Riverside focuses on the main group elements (group 13 to 16 in the periodical table), which lie at the border between organic, organometallic and inorganic chemistry. Bertrand uses the specific properties of main group elements, especially boron, silicon and phosphorus, to stabilize organic species.
In March 2002, his research team reported in Science that they had prepared a 'singlet diradical,' where the two non-bonding electrons do not combine to form a bond. The new singlet diradical is stable at room temperature, both in solution and in the solid state.
Bertrand's recent awards include Médaille d'Argent du CNRS, 1998; Japanese Society for Promotion of Science Award, 1999; and Election to the French Academy of Technology, 2000. Election to the Academia Europaea is his latest honor.
The Academia Europaea was founded in 1988, and now has some 2000 members from thirty five European countries and eight non-European countries. The membership includes leading experts from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and the law.
The Academy organizes workshops, conferences and expert meetings. Since 1993, it has published the 'European Review,' a quarterly, peer reviewed and international journal. The Academia provides independent expert opinions and advice and it participates in research projects and other similar interdisciplinary activities.
The University of California, Riverside offers undergraduate and graduate education to nearly 16,000 students and has a projected enrollment of 21,000 students by 2010. It is the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse campus of the preeminent ten-campus University of California system, the largest public research university system in the world. The picturesque 1,200-acre campus is located at the foot of the Box Springs Mountains near downtown Riverside in Southern California. More information about UC Riverside is available at www.ucr.edu or by calling 909-787-5185. For a listing of faculty experts on a variety of topics, please visit http://mmr.ucr.edu/experts/.