As a 12-year-old growing up in Moscow, Assistant Prof. Oleg Ozerov (CHEM) discovered with a friend what chemists might call a combustion reaction."We liked blowing things up," he said.

But something clicked when the friend, whose parents were chemists, gave Ozerov the formula to explain what just happened.

"I was like, 'Wow,'" he said.

Explosions seem to mark the 29-year-old's short career in chemistry. The latest one came in the form of a Sloan Research Fellowship, which carries an award of $45,000.

Ozerov heard news of this laurel, given to the best young minds in science, while in Russia.

"I wasn't disappointed," he said of his reaction. "It's a very nice award."

Ozerov said he might use the money to buy equipment, books or perhaps hire postdoctoral fellows to work in his lab.

The work that garnered him the award, which is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, involved breaking the strong bonds of the carbon-fluorine molecule.

While the practical application of such research is still years away, Ozerov said carbon-fluorine is caused by many common pollutants such as antifreeze. Knowing how to break down the molecule might one day help curb pollution, he said.

Ozerov received an advanced degree in chemistry at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in 1990 and received his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky.