1999 IOTA SIGMA PI AWARD FOR PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE

Sharon Vercellotti, V-LABS 

Ms. Sharon Vergez Vercellotti is the 1999 recipient of the Iota Sigma Pi Award in Professional Excellence. This award is given for outstanding contribution to chemistry and allied fields by a woman.

Ms. Vercellotti is President of V-LABS, INC., Covington, LA, a consulting, manufacturing, and analytical laboratory, specializing in carbohydrates and polysaccharides. She received a B.S. in chemistry from Louisiana State University and a M.Sc. in chemistry from The Ohio State University. She is author of ten scientific journal articles and one book chapter. 

Ms. Vercellotti has been Editor of The Iotan since 1997, and has redesigned many of the ISP publications, including the masthead for The Iotan, National Council Cards, Membership Information, National Awards, and Speakers Bureau brochures, and the 1999 Triennial Directory. Ms. Vercellotti joined the Chlorine Chapter of ISP in 1962 as an undergraduate, and served as its vice-president from 1991-95 and president 1995-97. During her term, she instituted the program "Super Science Saturday" with an ISP Minigrant. It has been held three years at the Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans where children enjoyed all the hands-on experiments. She also led an Iota Sigma Pi teacher-in-service program in Orleans and St. Tammany Parishes with demonstrations and supplies for hands-on experiments with funding from the local ACS Section and from member's Exxon grants. 

Ms. Vercellotti is a member of the Sigma Xi, honorary research society, the American Chemical Society Carbohydrate Division, has served as Secretary of the ACS Division of Small Chemical Businesses since 1995, President of the American Association of University Women of Louisiana, and Vice President of Board of Directors for the Louisiana Alliance for Biotechnology. She served as a member of the advisory committee the National Science Foundation's Industrial Innovation Interface (III) for five years from 1989-1994. She is listed in Marquis "Who's Who in Science and Engineering," 1992-9, First - Fifth Edition. Since her founding of V-LABS in 1979, Ms. Vercellotti has served continuously as a mentor to a number of high school and college students at her laboratory. Many of the students have pursued studies and careers in the sciences. V-LABS' first Ph.D. student in chemistry graduated in 1990. She has also given numerous demonstrations for local students and has participated in judging many local, regional, and state science fairs. Ms. Vercellotti and her husband John have two children, Ellen and Paul. Her hobbies are reading, gardening and cooking.

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