Dr. Marcetta Y. Darensbourg has had a profoundly influential career, both in her direct scientific contributions and in the number and quality of scientists she has trained and mentored. She has made numerous advances in both inorganic and organometallic chemistry, and helped create a new branch of chemistry, bio-organometallic chemistry.  Thus far, she has published over 250 original, peer-reviewed research articles, as well as 35 more reviews, accounts, book chapters and edited books. These publications have been cited over 17,000 times.  The titles of Dr. Darensbourg's publications speak to her intellectual evolution from fundamental explorations of the reactions, structure, and bonding of metal carbonyl anions and hydrido-metal carbonyl anions to the development of synthetic analogs of enzyme active sites that contain metal-carbon bonds, especially the carbon monoxide and cyanide-stabilized iron centers of hydrogenases. Her work has uncovered molecular features critical to the structure and function of these biocatalysts for hydrogen metabolism, and small molecular models show activity as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction, with potential application in fuel cells. Inspired by enzyme active sites with two metal centers, her group has also explored the chemistry of bimetallic transition metal complexes that have interesting magnetic and material properties that enable tailoring of catalyst design.

Dr. Darensbourg has received numerous prestigious awards, including the American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry (1995), Fred Basolo Medal (2013), American Chemical Society Award in Organometallic Chemistry (2017), and Willard Gibbs Medal Award, American Chemical Society - Chicago Section (2019). She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2017), and an American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellows (2011) and inaugural American Chemical Society Fellow (2009).  She has received awards for both research and teaching from the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University.  She was selected as the SEC Professor of the Year in 2018, the first professor from Texas A&M University to be so recognized. She has actively organized symposia for the American Chemical Society, and 8th International Conference on Hydrogenase Enzymes in Breckinridge, Colorado.  She has served on the Metals in Biology or Bioinorganic NIH Study section as an ad hoc and regular member.  She serves on the editorial boards of Inorganic Syntheses, and Proceedings of the National American Society, and is an active editor of the latter.