Phil Castellano is the recipient of the 2002 Outstanding Young Scholar Award.  Established in 1996 and administered by the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research (SPAR), the award comes with $1,000 in cash plus a $1,000 credit to the winner's discretionary research account in the SPAR office.

Castellano came to Bowling Green in 1998 and, as Douglas Neckers, McMaster Research Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center for Photochemical Sciences, reports, his “career has gotten off to an exceptional start.” Castellano received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award last fall and is the first member of the center to have been so recognized. His CAREER research project is titled “Towards Molecular Optical Data Storage Using Luminescent Inorganic Compounds with Photochromic Quenchers.”

“This is the nation’s highest achievement for one so early in his career and portends an outstanding future for him,” according to Neckers.

As a specialist in inorganic and physical chemistry, Castellano’s research interests include biophotonic and lifetime-based sensing applications of luminescent inorganic dyes, long-range photo-initiated electron- and energy-transfer processes, and molecular-level photonic devices. He is an active collaborator with scientists at other universities as well as at BGSU, further expanding the scope of the center.

The author of 40 journal articles, Castellano has also contributed four book chapters and is co-holder of three patents.