Clarice Evone Phelps (née Salone)[1] is an American nuclear chemist researching the processing of radioactive transuranic elements at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

[2] The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) recognizes her as the first African American woman to be involved with the discovery of a chemical element.

At ORNL, Phelps manages programs in the Department of Energy's Isotope & Fuel Cycle Technology Division[6] investigating industrial uses of nickel-63 and selenium-75.

[5][18] She was part of a three-month process to purify 22 mg of berkelium-249, which was shipped to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and combined with calcium-48 in a fusion reaction to create tennessine.

[5][9][19] In IUPAC's crediting Oak Ridge laboratory collectively as principal co-discoverer of tennessine, it acknowledged 61 individuals at ORNL who had contributed to the project including members of operations staff, support personnel, and researchers such as Phelps.

[3][4][5] When Oak Ridge National Laboratory held a gala to honor and celebrate the team that discovered tennessine, Phelps's name was left off the list, and when she showed up, she cried as she realized that she did not have a seat at the table with the other scientists.

[20] Phelps has contributed to additional research efforts,[9] including those of spectroscopic analysis and spectrophotometric valence state studies of plutonium-238 and neptunium-237 and 238 for the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA).

[9] Phelps is involved in several outreach projects to increase youth participation in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

[16] Phelps was featured on the Oak Ridge Associated Universities STEM stories program, partnering with nearby schools in Tennessee.

[23][24] In 2019, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) featured Phelps in the Periodic Table of Younger Chemists in recognition of "her outstanding commitment to research and public engagement, as well as being an important advocate for diversity".

[31] On April 12, The Washington Post published an op-ed[18] about, in part, the English-language Wikipedia's lack of coverage given to Phelps' contribution to the discovery of element 117.

The column, co-written by Wade, decried discussions among volunteer editors at the site that resulted in deletion of the article on Phelps.