The American Chemical Society (ACS) will award an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award to University of Rochester C.F. Houghton Professor of Chemistry William D. Jones at its annual meeting in Washington D.C. in August 2009. One of the highest honors in Organic Chemistry, the Cope Scholar Award was founded in 1984 and consists of $5,000, as well as a $40,000 unrestricted grant to support his research team. Ten people receive the Cope Scholar Award each year.

Professor Jones is one of the leading organometallic chemists of his generation, and as cited by the ACS, has won the Award "for his fundamental studies of C-H and C-C bond activation, which have opened the door to exciting applications in synthesis and catalysis.