Chemistry Professor Richard B. Kaner remembers being bored in his freshman chemistry class at Brown University, but how he loved the four years of undergraduate research he spent in a chemistry professor's laboratory.

"I still have the first crystals I grew in my first quarter in the lab," Kaner reminisced. "The research was the highlight of my undergraduate education. When many people teach chemistry, they don't show the relevance it has to our lives."

Honored this month with the 2002-04 Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence for his extraordinary accomplishments in teaching, research and university service, Kaner drew some lessons from his undergraduate years.

One is to make sure that his students experience the excitement of chemistry. Kaner immediately incorporates new research into his lectures and shows how important chemistry is in our daily lives.

He'll go to considerable trouble to demonstrate a concept. He once went to Toys "R" Us to buy 14 soccer balls, which he assembled to illustrate the chemistry of soccerball-like molecules known as fullerenes, or buckyballs.

"A man in line asked if I coach little league soccer," Kaner recalled. "I told him I was working on a science project."

A second lesson is to work closely with undergraduates on research. He has had 45 undergraduates work in his laboratory, along with 21 students who have completed their Ph.D.s under his supervision, eight who are currently conducting their thesis research, seven postdoctoral associates and seven visiting scientists.

Kaner's colleagues and students praise him as an exceptionally dedicated teacher and an innovative scientist who has made significant, lasting contributions to UCLA and to chemistry. William Gelbart, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, describes Kaner as an "outstanding teacher, mentor, scholar and a remarkable person."

In his research in inorganic and materials chemistry, supported primarily by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, Kaner focuses on the design of new, high-temperature materials and their synthesis by chemical methods. He discovered a spectacular new method to make high-temperature ceramics in a few seconds, a process that previously took days or even weeks.

Another research project led to the development of membranes for separating gases such as oxygen and nitrogen from air, a process of tremendous industrial importance. In a third area of research, Kaner has synthesized novel superconductors based on the new, molecular form of pure carbon known as buckyballs.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including Guggenheim, Sloan and Packard fellowships and UCLA's Harriet and Charles Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award.

The faculty prize was established by Gold Shield in 1986 to mark the group's 50th anniversary. Gold Shield is an honorary service and philanthropic organization for women graduates of UCLA whose members are chosen for university service and professional and community achievements.