Hawker presents Gassman Lectureship in Chemistry, Oct. 7-10

Professor Craig J. Hawker from the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will present the Gassman Lectureship in Chemistry, October 7, through October 10. He will present three seminars:

• 4 p.m. Monday, October 7, 100 Smith Hall, Materials Inspired by Marine Organisms (a reception follows in the Kate & Michael Barany Conference Room, 117/119 Smith Hall);
• 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, October 8, 331 Smith Hall, New Approaches to Molecular Building Blocks and Macromolecular Architectures;
• 9:45 a.m. Thursday, October 10, 331 Smith Hall, The Power of Organic Chemistry in Polymer Synthesis

Hawker, a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), received his bachelor's degree from the University of Queensland, Australia, and his doctorate from the University of Cambridge. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Jean M.J. Fréchet at Cornell University. In 2005, he moved from the IBM Almaden Research Center to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a professor in the Materials, Chemistry and Biochemistry departments and directs the Materials Research Laboratory. Hawker is also director of the California Nanosystems Institute, co-director of the Materials Research Laboratory, and founding director of the Dow Materials Institute. He is actively involved in a range of companies, serving on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Intermolecular, Relypsa and Trilypsa Inc.

Hawker has received a number of awards for his work including the 2013 American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry, the 2012 Centenary Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry, an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (2011) and the Royal DSM International Performance Materials Award in 2010. Professor Hawker has been honored with election to the Royal Society as well as being named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Professor Hawker’s research activities focus on synthetic polymer chemistry and nanotechnology, integrating fundamental studies with the development of nanostructured materials for advanced properties and functions in microelectronics and biotechnology.

Regents Professor Paul G. Gassman died in April 1993, at the age of 57. He was internationally know in the chemical community, and left behind a legacy of achievement. During his career, he served as mentor and adviser to 85 doctoral and master’s candidates as well as dozens of postdoctoral associates and undergraduate students. Numerous awards, honors, and honorary degrees were bestowed in recognition of his contributions to research and his service to the scientific, professional, and university communities. Some of these awards include election to the National Academy of Sciences (1989) and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992); the James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry (1985); Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1986); and the National Catalyst Award of the Chemical Manufacturers Association (1990). He served as president of the American Chemical Society in 1990. He was co-chair of the organizing committees of the National Organic Symposium (1991) and the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research meeting (1992), on the University of Minnesota campus. It was his wish that a lectureship be established to bring distinguished organic chemists to the Department of Chemistry.