Chemistry Department presents 47th Friend E. Clark Lecture Series

Morgantown, WV, March 2, 2006: The 47th annual Friend E. Clark Lecture series will take place on Monday March 12 and Tuesday March 13, and is free and open to the public. The series is sponsored by the Phi Lambda Upsilon Chemistry Honorary and the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University.

Dr. John F. Hartwig, Kenneth L. Rinehart Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will present “The Organometallic Chemistry of Metal-heteroatom Bonds” on March 12 at 5pm in Clark Hall, Room 208. In 260 Hodges on March 13 at 4pm, he will present “Catalyst Design in Chemistry and Beyond.”

In the first lecture, Dr. Hartwig will explain organometallic chemistry and the results of his research with metal-nitrogen, -oxygen, -sulfur and -boron bonds. Organometallic chemistry focuses on the synthesis, structures and reactions of complexes with metal-carbon bonds. He will also describe the role of catalysts and how his research group has developed new principles and strategies for catalyst designs with a metal atom. Catalysts are designed to make chemical reactions occur faster and more selectively.

Dr. John F. Hartwig earned a B.A. from Princeton University in 1986, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990. He completed his postdoctoral work with the American Cancer Society and later became the Irénée P. DuPont Professor of Chemistry at Yale University. His current research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign focuses on discovering and understanding new reactions catalyzed by transition metal complexes.

The Friend E. Clark Lecture Series was designed by Charles Wheeler, former President of Tau Chapter of Phi Lambda Upsilon, to bring an outstanding research scientist on campus to share his/her research interests and accomplishments with WVU students and faculty. Since it was initiated in 1950, the series has received numerous Nobel Laureates and prominent research scientists.

For more information, please contact Ronald W. Clawson, Jr., President of Tau Chapter of Phi Lambda Upsilon, at rclawson@mix.wvu.edu.

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