The Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is awarding its 2027 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize to David E. Woon, research associate professor of chemistry, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The award recognizes his pioneering theoretical studies of both gas and condensed phase astrochemical systems and the development of sophisticated computational tools to support these studies, as well as providing the community with valuable web-based resources.
The Laboratory Astrophysics Prize, LAD’s highest honor, was announced Nov. 4, 2026. The prize is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to laboratory astrophysics over an extended period of time. For over three decades, Woon has pioneered the consistent use of quantum chemistry with applications to the laboratory astrophysics and astronomical community.
He has been applying computational chemistry methods to the study of astrochemical systems, including gas phase and ice surface reactivity, spectra, and other properties. He brought the use of advanced quantum chemical methodologies and large basis sets to the characterization of gas phase reactions, such as verifying the reactivity of cyano (CN) and ethynyl (CCH) radicals with unsaturated hydrocarbons and exploring the nature of exotic metal-containing species like MgCCH. He pioneered the study of reactions on astrophysical ices starting in the late 1990s, making contributions to understanding how anions can form in ice, the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide, and the reactions between ammonia and formaldehyde and other small aldehydes. Much of his current work focuses on a new class of ice-surface reactions that involve cations reacting with surface molecules, revealing novel pathways to both known and undetected astromolecules.
Since 2003, Woon has served the community by maintaining "The Astrochymist" website dedicated to providing information on astrochemistry to the field and to the general public. He has served as the Secretary of the American Chemical Society Physical Chemistry Division’s Astrochemistry Subdivision since 2018. Woon has recently been running an ice-modeling training network with students and postdocs in the groups of other researchers.
Woon earned a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering, an M.S. degree in Physics, and a Ph.D. under a joint program between Physics and Metallurgical Engineering, all from Michigan Technological University. After two postdoctoral positions, Woon subsequently spent a decade at Molecular Research Institute in California, where he first learned in depth about the field of astrochemistry. He moved to the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006 and was appointed Research Associate Professor in 2014.
The LAD Career Prize includes a cash award, a framed certificate, and an invited lecture by the recipient at a meeting of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division.