Naval Research Lab Chemist Receives Krupshaw Award, Inducted as Washington Academy of Sciences Fellow

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Chemist Darryl Boyd, Ph.D., received the Washington Academy of Sciences Krupshaw Award for Non-Traditional Teaching during an awards ceremony held at the Center for Naval Analysis in Arlington, Virginia, May 7.

The Washington Academy of Sciences gives awards annually to scientists to recognize scientific work of merit and distinction. Boyd was honored for his extensive and comprehensive efforts as a science teacher, mentor and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) advocate in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

“I was actually surprised to find out that I won the Krupshaw Award! It’s very humbling,” Boyd said. “I must thank my colleague, mentor and friend Paul Charles for nominating me for this honor. He has been a great example for me in the STEM outreach space through the internship programs he has led here at NRL.”

Since 1940, theawards program has generated a catalog of a “golden age” of scientific achievement and leadership. Awardees are immediately elected as a fellow in the Academy.

“Being inducted was a further surprise; finding out that I have been made a Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences for Teaching,” he said.“What an honor!”

At NRL, Boyd develops novel optical polymers in the Optical Sciences Division. He earned the Krupshaw Award for Non-Traditional Teaching in part for his personal social media efforts as Dr. Boyd The Chemist*.* Since 2016, he has performed simple and safe science demonstrations as a way to serve the community.

“Boyd has a major footprint in the space of STEM outreach that extends far beyond the borders of NRL,” said NRL Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering Research Chemist Paul Charles, Boyd’s mentor and colleague.

Boyd has an extensive resume of leadership and science organizational involvement. These include being the former President of the Chemistry Society of Washington, a former Councilor for the American Chemical Society (ACS), and a current Executive Board member for the National Organization of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers (NOBCChe).

“I’m just grateful for the education, training and opportunities I’ve had all along my journey in science, beginning with my parents and continuing to this day,” Boyd said. “Because I’ve been blessed with so much, I feel a strong, but glad, obligation to impart what I can to those who may not have had as rich of a scientific experience as I have had. In all of these efforts, teaching science to the masses is the connecting ideology.”

About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California.

NRL offers several mechanisms for collaborating with the broader scientific community, within and outside of the Federal government. These include Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), LP-CRADAs, Educational Partnership Agreements, agreements under the authority of 10 USC 4892, licensing agreements, FAR contracts, and other applicable agreements.

For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at mailto:NRLPAO@us.navy.mil.