Bruce A. Averill grew up in New England. He then received his B.S. with high honors in chemistry at Michigan State University in 1969, and his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at MIT in 1973. After three years as an NIH and NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Brandeis University and the University of Wisconsin, he began his independent academic career at Michigan State University in 1976.

He was promoted in 1982, after which he moved to the University of Virginia, where he was promoted to Professor in 1988. In 1994, Dr. Averill moved to the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands as Professor of Biochemistry. He then returned to the United States to the University of Toledo in 2001, where he is a Distinguished University Professor. Dr. Averill's research interests are centered on the role of metal ions in biology.

In his European position, Dr. Averill was responsible for obtaining funding for and coordinating the research activities of seven research groups from seven different European countries. In addition, he was responsible for the research theme on Biocatalysis within the E. C. Slater Institute of the University of Amsterdam, which consisted of himself as head and a team of 21 professionals, ranging from associate professors to masters students at any given time.

Dr. Averill's research has attracted a great deal of attention in the scientific community. His published work is frequently cited by other researchers, and he has been invited to give more than 100 presentations at educational and research institutions and at national and international scientific meetings. Among his numerous awards, Dr. Averill has been an Honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellow, an NSF Predoctoral Fellow, an NIH and NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow; he has also received an NSF Special Creativity Award.

Over the years, Dr. Averill has published more than 135 articles dealing with chemical, physical, and biological subjects in refereed journals, and he has also published 15 chapters in books and more than 80 abstracts from national and international meetings. In addition, he has co-edited a graduate text on catalysis, and he has taught courses at all levels, including general chemistry, biochemistry, advanced inorganic, and physical methods.

Aside from his research program, Dr. Averill is an enthusiastic sailor and an avid reader. He also enjoys traveling with his family, and at some point in the future he would like to sail around the world in a classic wooden boat.

Patricia Eldredge was raised in the U.S. diplomatic service, and has traveled and lived around the world. After receiving a B.A. in Spanish language and literature from Ohio State University, Dr. Eldredge developed an interest in chemistry while studying general chemistry at Kent State University. She obtained a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Central Florida.

Following several years as an analytical research chemist in industry, she began her graduate studies at the University of Virginia and obtained her Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1989, Dr. Eldredge was named the Science Policy Fellow for the American Chemical Society. While in Washington, D.C., she examined the impact of changes in federal funding priorities on academic research funding. She was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, working with the U.S. Department of Energy on heterogeneous catalysis and coal liquefaction. Subsequently, she returned to the University of Virginia as a Research Scientist and a member of the General Faculty.

In 1992, Dr. Eldredge moved to Europe for several years. While there, she studied advanced Maritime Engineering, Materials, and Oceanography at the University of Southampton in England, arising from her keen interest in naval architecture.

Since her return to the United States in 2002, she has been a Visiting Assistant Professor and a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Toledo. Her current research interests include the use of protein scaffolds to synthesize biologically relevant clusters. Dr. Eldredge has published more than a dozen articles dealing with synthetic inorganic chemistry and catalysis, including several seminal studies describing new synthetic approaches to metal-sulfur clusters. She has also been awarded a patent for her work on catalytic coal liquefaction.

Her diverse teaching experience includes courses on chemistry for the life sciences, introductory chemistry, general, organic, and analytical chemistry. When not writing scientific papers or textbooks, Dr. Eldredge enjoys traveling, reading political biographies, sailing high-performance vessels under rigorous conditions, and caring for her fourth child, her pet Havanese.

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