 In 1946 , Young joined the newly created Argonne National Laboratory in 1946 as Director of Technical Information , the first woman to be appointed a division head . She would remain at Argonne until she retired in 1964 . In 1956 , she became the first woman to be appointed chair of the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society . She was involved in setting up its Distinguished Service Award , and later received it herself in 1975 . She was also a fellow of the American Institute of Chemists , the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Atomic Scientists of Chicago . She was a charter member of the American Nuclear Society and the president of Iota Sigma Pi , a national honor society for women in chemistry . In 1959 , the Chicago Tribune named her as one of the city 's most distinguished women in business or the professions , and the Argonne National Laboratory established the Hoylande D. Young lecture series in her honor in 1963 . 
