2007S1469-1 05/07/07
 
  By: eLLIS S.C.R. No. 73
 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
       WHEREAS, Eric R. Bittner, associate professor of theoretical
chemistry in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Natural
Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Houston, is one of two
chemists in the United States and Canada and the only chemist from
the State of Texas to be named a 2007 Fellow by the John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; and
       WHEREAS, Eric Bittner earned a bachelor of science degree
with high honors and honors work in chemistry and physics from
Valparaiso University in 1988 and a doctoral degree in chemistry
from The University of Chicago in 1994; and
       WHEREAS, He was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral
Fellow at The University of Texas at Austin from 1994 to 1996, a
Visiting Scholar at Stanford University from 1996 to 1997, and a
member of the Visiting Faculty at the Center for Non-Linear Studies
at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the summer of 2001; and
       WHEREAS, Professor Bittner has been on the faculty of the
University of Houston since 1997, when he received his appointment
as an assistant professor of theoretical chemistry; he was promoted
to associate professor of theoretical chemistry in 2003, which is
the rank he holds today; and
       WHEREAS, Before becoming a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow in
2007, he received the Elizabeth A. Norris Award for Excellence in
Graduate Research from The University of Chicago in 1994, the
National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemistry,
1995 through 1997, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in
1999, and the Wiley-International Journal of Quantum Chemistry
Young Investigator Award in 2003; and
       WHEREAS, Eric Bittner's outstanding research on the dynamics
of molecules in their excited states earned him the honor of his
Guggenheim Fellowship and placed him among an illustrious group of
Guggenheim Fellows that includes recipients of the Nobel Prize, the
Pulitzer Prize, and other awards of high and great distinction;
now, therefore, be it
       RESOLVED, That the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby congratulate Professor Eric R. Bittner on his selection as a
2007 Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and
commend him for bringing pride and prestige to the University of
Houston and to the people of Texas; and, be it further
       RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be prepared for Eric
R. Bittner as an expression of high regard from the Texas
Legislature.