Chemistry Lectureships

Dewey/Kelly Lectureship

The founders of the M.L. Dewey and C.H. Kelly Award, Marjorie Dewey and Kay Kelly, have enjoyed a life-time involvement with science which began when the two sisters were students at the University of Nebraska in the late 1940s. The pair, both NU graduates, were co-owners of Morris Laboratories in Sacramento, Calif. Marjorie Dewey and Kay Kelly wish to encourage others to pursue a similar commitment to the field of science through the Dewey/Kelly Lectureship series at UNL. It is their hope to enhance the educational experiences for chemistry students and to increase the opportunities for faculty to interact with leading scientists from both the United States and around the world.

Former Department of Chemistry Chair, Pill-Soon Song, encourages lectureships such as the Dewey/Kelly Lectureship and claims, ""By inviting a distinguished scholar to speak to faculty members as well as students, we can encourage people to develop international collaborations in science."

• 2020-21 - Jack Szostak
• 2018-19 - Stuart L. Schreiber
• 2010-11 - Jacqueline K. Barton
• 1997-98 - Alan Fersht
• 1996-97 - Christopher M. Dobson
• 1995-96 - Kurt Schaffner

Michael L. Gross Lectureship

Professor Michael L. Gross joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska in 1988 after post-doctoral studies with Professor Fred McLaffarty at Purdue University. Grounded in his formal training as an organic chemist, Professor Gross was an early leader in the study of ion-molecule reactions using mass spectrometry. In 1978, Gross, along with Charles Wilkens and Gerhard Miesels, was successful in obtaining funding to establish an NSF regional instrumentation facility in mass spectrometry. The Midwest Center for Mass Spectrometry (MCMS) soon became internationally known as a leading laboratory in mass spectrometry. In 1982 the first commercially available tandem magnetic sector mass spectrometry was added to the facility. In the years following, NCMS played a pioneering role in the development of tandem mass spectrometry in the study of biomolecules. Gross was named as a 3M Alumni Professor of Chemistry in 1983 and a C. Petrus Peterson Professor of Chemistry in 1988.

Professor Gross has over 400 publications in mass spectrometry and has received numerous awards including the American Chemical Society Field and Franklin medal for excellence in mass spectrometry in 1999. He has served as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of the American Society of Mass Spectrometry since 1990.

Professor Gross left the University of Nebraska in 1994 to become Professor of Chemistry, Medicine, and Immunology and Principal Investigator of the NIH Mass Spectrometry Research Resource at Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests continue in the development of mass spectrometric methods to understand interactions between proteins and ligands, the gas-phase chemistry of oligodeoxynucleotides, and the development of Fourier transform mass spectrometry.

We gratefully acknowledge Professor Michael Gross for his support of this lectureship.

• 2019 - Gary Siuzdak
• 2018 - Carlito Lebrilla
• 2017 - Catherine Costello
• 2014 - Alan Marshall
• 2012 - Vicki Wysocki
• 2008 - Igor Kaltashov
• 2008 - John Klassen
• 1999 - Marvin Vestal
• 1998 - Michael Gross

Gustavson Lectureship

Reuben G. Gustavson was an eminent scientist, scholar, educator and administrator. Chancellor of the University of Nebraska from 1946 until 1953, he served five other universities with distinction and was the first president of Resources of the Future.

The Reuben G. Gustavson Memorial Lectures were established in 1975 in recognition of Dr. Gustavson’s contributions to education and research. Sponsored by Resources for the Future, Inc., Washington, D.C., and four of the universities he served, the lectures will be given annually for fifteen years at the University of Arizona, the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado, and the University of Nebraska. The lectures at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln are jointly administered by the Department of Chemistry and the School of Biological Sciences.

Contributions to the lecture fund were made by the sponsoring institutions and Laurence S. Rockefeller and William S. Paley. The lectures deal with Science and Society, with emphasis on questions related to resources and the environment.

• 1987 - Frank H. Westheimer
• 1984 - Edward A. Knapp
• 1982-83 - Howard A. Schneiderman
• 1979 - Philip Handler
• 1978 - W. J. Hubbard
• 1976 - H. Guyford Stever

Hamilton Lectureship in Organic Chemistry

Cliff S. Hamilton was born in Blair, Nebraska, and received his B.S. degree from Monmouth College in Illinois in 1912. He was a student at the University of Illinois during 1914-1915 and served in the Chemical Warfare Service in 1917 during World War I. He served as an instructor in chemistry at Ohio Wesleyan University from 1917 to 1919. He began graduate work at the University of Minnesota but left for Northwestern University to work with W. Lee Lewis, and received his Ph.D. degree there in 1922. After a year as a research instructor in pharmacology at the University of Wisconsin in 1922-1923, he joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska, where he served as an assistant and associate professor from 1923 to 1927. From 1927 to 1929, he was an associate professor at Northwestern University.

In 1929, Hamilton returned to Nebraska as a full professor of chemistry, served as chairman of chemistry from 1939 to 1955, and also as dean of the graduate college during 1938-39 and 1940-41, retiring in 1957. He was a long-time consultant to Parke, Davis and Company in Detroit from 1927 until 1963. His research interests included the synthesis of organic compounds containing arsenic, antimony, or phosphorus, and the study of heterocyclic compounds utilizable as drugs. He helped develop Mapharsen, an arsenical formerly widely used against syphilis, and Camoquin, an antimalarial.

Hamilton was Chairman of the Nebraska Section in 1924- 26, Chairman of the Organic Division in 1940, and Chairman of the Divisional Officers Group of the American Chemical Society in 1940-41. He served on the Editorial Board of Organic Syntheses (1942-49), as Associate Editor of Organic Reactions, Volume 2, in 1944, and as an Associate Editor of Chemical Reviews from 1946-1948. His honors included an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Monmouth College in 1954, the Midwest Award of the St. Louis Section of the American Chemical Society in 1955, and the dedication of the new chemistry building at the University of Nebraska in his honor on October 25, 1970.

• 2024-25 - Herbert Waldmann
• 2023-24 - Donald Hilvert
• 2022-23 - Jin-Quan Yu
• 2021-22 - Cynthia J. Burrows
• 2020-21 - Richard B. Silverman
• 2019-20 - Gregory C. Fu
• 2018-19 - Frances H. Arnold
• 2017-18 - John F. Hartwig
• 2016-17 - Chaitan Khosla
• 2015-16 - David MacMillan
• 2014-15 - Laura Kiessling
• 2013-14 - Peter H. Seeberger
• 2012-13 - Kendall N. Houk
• 2011-12 - Carolyn R. Bertozzi
• 2010-11 - Stephen L. Buchwald
• 2009-10 - Peter G. Schultz
• 2008-09 - Paul Wender
• 2007-08 - Christopher T. Walsh
• 2006-07 - Shu Kobayashi
• 2004-05 - Manfred T. Reetz
• 2003-04 - George M. Whitesides
• 2002-03 - Eric N. Jacobson
• 2001-02 - Yoshito Kishi
• 2000-01 - Robert H. Grubbs
• 1999-00 - Peter B. Dervan
• 1998-99 - Ryoji Noyori
• 1996-97 - K. C. Nicolaou
• 1995-96 - Dieter Seebach
• 1994-95 - K. Barry Sharpless
• 1993-94 - Samuel J. Danishefsky
• 1992-93 - Larry E. Overman
• 1991-92 - David A. Evans
• 1990-91 - Jean-Marie P. Lehn
• 1989-90 - Donald J. Cram
• 1988-89 - Barry M. Trost
• 1987-88 - Derek H. R. Barton
• 1986-87 - Gilbert Stork
• 1985-86 - Wolfgang Oppolzer
• 1984-85 - Satoru Masamune
• 1983-84 - Vladimir Prelog
• 1981-82 - Herbert C. Brown
• 1980-81 - Albert Eschenmoser
• 1979-80 - Elias J. Corey

Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) Award Lectureship

The IAB Award Lectureship was established to strengthen ties between scientists in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and those in the industrial world of chemistry. The Lectureship will, from time to time, bring outstanding scientists from the industry to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus to present their work and engage in discussions on topics of mutual interest with faculty and students in the Department.

• 2017 - Margaret Y. Chu-Moyer

Jack Merski Memorial Lecture in Physical Chemistry

The Jack Merski Memorial Lectureship in Physical Chemistry was established by his friends, colleagues and family in memory of his intense interest in science and his dedication to excellence in its practice. Dr. Merski was born in 1947 in Detroit, where he grew up and attended school. He received his B.S. from Wayne State University in Detroit and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1979. His dissertation work laid both the theoretical and experimental foundation for a new spectroscopic technique for studying molecular crystals using stress modulation.

Dr. Merski further increased his expertise in solid state chemistry and physics by spending nearly two years in Professor Flygare's laboratory at the University of Illinois. There he designed and built a microwave interferometer for the study of dielectric properties of crystals. He also spent a year supervising the laboratory of Professor Eckhardt at UNL, who was then on leave. During that time he designed and built a Brillouin scattering spectrometer. In 1982 he joined 3M Corporation in St. Paul as a Senior Scientist. At 3M he was in the process of building up an exceptional facility for the study of the optical and photoconductive properties of materials. His outstanding progress there ceased with his untimely death in 1984.

It is fitting that these lectures, by their topics, reflect Dr. Merski's interest and delight in the nature of collective interactions and their many manifestations in the chemistry and physics of condensed matter.

• 2016 - F. Fleming Crim
• 1999 - Ahmed H. Zewail
  (1999 Nobel prizewinner)
• 1986 - Peter Wolynes

Carl Georgi-Walter Militzer Memorial Lectureship

Carl Georgi grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He obtained his B.S. (1930) and Ph.D. (1934) from the Univeristy of Wisconsin. Dr. Perry Wilson served as his research advisor.

Carl came to the University of Nebraska in 1935 as an instructor in bacteriology and was promoted to full professor in 1947. He served as chairman of the Department of Microbiology from 1953 until his retirement. In 1964, he was appointed Murray Longworth Professor of Microbiology. Much of the credit for the reorganization and modernization of the department belongs to Carl Georgi.

During his tenure at the University, he was actively engaged in research and was the recipient of several honors. Many of his former students have become well-known in a variety of professions. All attest to his excellence in teaching and research.

"Walt", a native of Arlington Heights, Illinois, obtained his B.S. (1932) and Ph.D. (1936) at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Karl Paul Link was his research advisor.

In 1936, Dr. Militzer came to the University of Nebraska as an instructor and was promoted to full professor in 1948. Walt Militzer was the first staff member to introduce modern biochemistry into the curriculum at the University of Nebraska. He had a very personal interest in all of his students and could call most of them by name long after they had left his classroom.

Throughout his career, Walt maintained an active interest in research. Many of his former students hold very responsible positions.

As Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, he served the university during a period of rapid growth and development of the college. Walt was held in high esteem by his students, his academic colleagues, and his many friends in the community.

Carl's and Walt's friendship dated from their undergraduate student days at Wisconsin. While at the University of Nebraska, they jointly pioneered research on thermophilic bacteria, a fundamental problem in biochemistry.

• 2013 - Jon Clardy
• 2003 - Sir John Walker
• 1993 - Har Gorbind Khorana
• 1989 - Stanley Choen
• 1984 - Konrad Bloch
• 1980 - David Balitmore
• 1978 - Severo Ochoa
• 1976 - Stanford Moore

Nebraska Cluster for Computational Chemistry (NC3) Award Lectureship

Nebraska Cluster for Computational Chemistry (NC3) Award Lectures were established in 2016.

Phi Lambda Upsilon (Rho Chapter) Lectureship

Phi Lambda Upsilon was founded as an honorary chemical society in March, 1899 at the University of Illinois. The society stands as a monument to the enthusiasm and zeal of Horace C. Porter, Paul F.A. Rudnick, and Fred C. Koch, at that time seniors majoring in chemistry. The founders were assisted in their undertaking by Professors Arthur W. Palmer, Harry S. Grindley and Samuel W. Parr, who continued for many years to manifest an active interest in the Society and to work for the maintenance of its high standards.

The aims and purposes of the Society were from its inception "the promotion of high scholarship and original investigation in all branches of pure and applied chemistry." Through these objectives the founders envisaged a society which would serve the field of chemistry in the same manner the Phi Beta Kappa does in the humanities, Sigma Xi in scientific research and Tau Beta Pi in engineering. Throughout its history Phi Lambda Upsilon has shown a consistent devotion to its objectives as an honor society.

The colors of the Society are the pink and blue shades of litmus. The emblem of the Society is the structural formula of ortho-bromotoluene. The difficulty which early chemists experienced in preparing this compound exemplifies the difficulty in meeting the high standards of scholarship and achievement required for election to our Society. Across the emblem appear the letters: PHI, LAMBDA, and UPSILON, representing the initial letters of the names of the guiding spirits of the Society, Carl Fresenius, father of analytical chemistry; Justus von Liebig, father of organic and agricultural chemistry; and Jacobus van’t Hoff, father of theoretical and physical chemistry. Above this band are crossed retorts and a Liebig bulb, indicative of the apparatus which was used by the early chemist. Below it are the letters, SIGMA TAU. They are the initial letters of our motto "Symbolon Times," which means "A mark of honor."

• 2023-24 - Silvi Rouskin
• 2022-23 - Laura Sanchez
• 2021-22 - Julius Lucks
• 2019-20 - Mollie Meffert
• 2018-19 - James Tour
• 2017-18 - Richard N. Zare
• 2016-17 - Christina M. White
• 2015-16 - Milan Mrsksich
• 2014-15 - Chad A. Mirkin, Daniel C. Harris
• 2013-14 - Daniel Harris, Emily P. Balskus
• 2012-13 - Mark Meyerhoff
• 2011-12 - Oliver Fiehn
• 2010-11 - Matthew Augustine
• 2005-06 - Gabriel C. Weaver
• 2003-04 - Richard Roberts
• 2000-01 - John Talley
• 1998-99 - Paul Anderson
• 1996-97 - Ronald Breslow
• 1994-95 - Clayton H. Heathcock
• 1987-88 - Henry Lardy
• 1986-87 - Tobin F. Marks
• 1984-85 - Ronald Breslow
• 1983-84 - Norman H. Cromwell
• 1982-83 - J. Calvin Giddings
• 1981-82 - W. Wallace Cleland
• 1980-81 - Mildred Cohn
• 1979-80 - Roald Hoffman
• 1978-79 - Harry B. Gray
• 1977-78 - Paul Gassman
• 1976-77 - F. Albert Cotton
• 1975-76 - Neil Bartlett

Rieke Award Lectureship

Established in 2018.

Nolan and Gloria Sommer Lectureship

Dr. Nolan B. Sommer retired as a Senior Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of American Cyanamid Company in June, 1978. During his 10 years as a Cyanamid corporate officer and Director, Dr. Sommer was also a member of the Executive Committee. He had major responsibility for the continued development of the company's operations outside the United States. He played a key role in Cyanamid's planning and acquisition efforts, as well as expanding Cyanamid's federal government relations. He also served as the principal company spokesman before the academic community and visited campuses throughout the United States.

Dr. Sommer was named a Cyanamid Vice President in February 1967. During the previous year he served as President and General Manager of Formica Corporation (a Cyanamid subsidiary), which pioneered in the development of the laminated plastic industry. Prior to that he was the president of Jefferson Chemical Company, a joint petrochemical venture of Cyanamid and Texaco, Inc.

Dr. Sommer began his career with Cyanamid as a research chemist at the Stanford, CT Research Laboratory in 1944. After holding a number of technical and commercial positions, he was named Assistant General Manager of the Corporate Development and Planning Division in 1960 and General Manager of the Chemical Research Division in 1961.

Born in Merna, Nebraska, Dr. Sommer holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemistry from the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Indiana University. Active in professional associations, he is a past President of the Commercial Chemical Development Association, and the recipient of its 1968 Honor Award. Dr. Sommer was Chairman of the Society of Chemical Industry, American Section, 1972-1973, and is a former Director of the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Dr. Sommer has served as a Director of a number of companies in the chemical and related industries. He served five terms as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, New Jersey. In 1983 he was appointed by Governor Kean to the New Jersey Health Care Administration Board, the top health care policy-making body of the state. He served until 1991 as a member and Vice Chairman of that board. He was also a member of the Board of the Center for Health Affairs of the State of New Jersey Hospital Association and was immediate past Chairman of the Board of the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra.

• 2017 - Richard W. Roberts
• 2013 - Barbara Imperiali
• 2005 - Carolyn Bertozzi
• 2004 - Michael L. Gross
• 2003 - Victor J. Hruby
• 2002 - Ned A. Porter
• 2001 - Gunda I. Georg
• 2000 - G. Robert Pettit
• 1999 - Paul T. Anastas
• 1998 - Steven A. Benner
• 1995 - Arthur Kornberg

Charles A. Stiefvater Memorial Lectureship

The Charles A. Stiefvater lectureship was established by his family, friends, and colleagues in memory of his interests in Inorganic and Organometallic chemistry.

Chuck was born in 1957 in Odessa, Texas. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1980 from Texas Tech University. He conducted research on multiply bonded arsenic compounds before joining the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Chemistry in 1983. Under the supervision of Prof. Reuben D. Rieke, Chuck's research at UNL involved various aspects of the chemistry of metallic cobalt and nickel. This work included the preparation of a variety of alumina and zeolite supported metal catalysts which possess high Fischer-Tropsch activity a low temperatures, as well as investigations into the formation of halide functionalized phosphine complexes of nickel. His outstanding progress toward the Ph.D. degree was cut short by his untimely death in 1985.

• 2011 - Melanie S. Sanford
• 2006 - Barry Trost
• 2001 - Miguel Yus
• 2000 - John E. Bercaw
• 1996 - Albert I. Meyers
• 1994 - Alan J. Heeger
• 1992 - J. P. Collman
• 1989 - Robert. G. Bergman
• 1987 - Alan H. Cowley

Streck Award Lecture

The Streck Award Lecture was established in 2016. Located in La Vista, Nebraska, Streck develops and manufactures products in hematology,immunology, molecular diagnostics, cell stabilization, infectious diseases and urinalysis for clinical and research laboratories. Streck’s passion for innovation, quality and service are what makes the organization a world leader in the development of quality control and diagnostic products helping laboratories ensure accurate and timely results for patients. Streck also offers automated erythrocyte sedimentation rate instruments for testing in EDTA tubes.

E. Roger Washburn Lectureship

His friends and family in memory of his 40 years of service on the faculty of this Department of Chemistry established the E. Roger Washburn Lectureship. Professor Washburn received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan, and upon graduation in 1926 came to the University of Nebraska as an instructor in chemistry. He rose through the ranks to professor, served as Chairman of the Chemistry Department from 1955 to 1964, and taught until his death in 1967. During this period he directed 51 M.S. and 18 Ph.D. researchers, and published over 50 scientific papers.

Dr. Washburn gained international recognition in the areas of solution and surface chemistry and made significant contributions to techniques for measuring spreading pressures with Langmuir balances. He was, first and foremost, a careful, critical experimentalist, and a dedicated, sympathetic teacher, who took great delight in doing both things well.

It is appropriate that these lectures, by their topics, reflect Professor Washburn's interest and curiosity about the nature of molecular interactions and the many manifestations of behavior, which give each molecule its own chemical personality.

• 2020 - Joan F. Brennecke
• 2018 - John H. Seinfeld
• 2017 - Hongjie Dai
• 2016 - Richard J. Saykally
• 2015 - Gábor Somorjai
• 2010 - Bruce J. Berne
• 2007 - Charles M. Lieber
• 2005 - Donald G. Truhlar
• 1999 - David Chandler
• 1995 - Hans W. Spiess
• 1993 - Y.R. Shen
• 1988 - Harold A. Scheraga
• 1986 - Benjamin Widom
• 1986 - Frank Stillinger
• 1981 - George C. Pimentel
• 1978 - Henry Eyring
• 1977 - Stuart A. Rice
• 1975 - Harold L. Friedman