Past Lectures
The PLU Lecture Series was sponsored by Dow Chemical Company from 1989—1996 and DuPont in 1997.
15 April 2021
Prof. Arumugam Manthiram
“Sustainable Battery Technologies for Renewable Energy Utilization and Vehicle Electrification”
April 2020
Dr. Hemamala Karunadasa
11 April 2019
Prof. Joseph T. Hupp
"AIM-ing for Catalyst Synthesis with Single-atom Precision"
19 April 2018
Prof. John Wood, Baylor University
"Recent Efforts in the Synthesis of Complex Natural Products"
20 April 2017
Prof. Kevin Plaxco, University of California, Santa Barbara
"Counting Molecules, Dodging Blood Cells: Real-Time Molecular Measurements Directly in the Living Body"
14 April 2016
Prof. Jacob Petrich, Iowa State University
"Some Uses of Light: From Subdiffraction Limited Microscopy (STED) to Retinal Scans"
30 April 2015
Prof. Emily A. Weiss, Northwestern University
"Visible-Light Photocatalysis within Dispersions of Colloidal Quantum Dots"
17 April 2014
Prof. Gregory S. Engel, University of Chicago
"Quantum Mechanics and Biology: Elucidating Design Principles of Photosynthetic Energy Transfer"
31 October 2013
Prof. Vincent Rotello, University of Massachusetts — Amherst
"Nanoparticles in Biomedecine: Delivery and Sensing"
18 April 2013 (Cancelled)
Prof. Emily Carter, Princeton University
"Quantum Mechanical Evaluation of Energy Conversion Materials for Generating Electricity and Fuels"
26 April 2012
Prof. Reginald M. Penner, University of California — Urvine
"Sniffing Molecules with Metal Nanowires"
17 February 2011
Prof. Prashant V. Kamat, University of Notre Dame
"Semiconductor Nanostructures for Next Generation Solar Cells"
22 April 2010
Prof. Norman J. Dovichi, University of Washington — Seattle
"Single Cell Chemical Analysis"
30 April 2009
Prof. Jonathan Sessler, University of Texas — Austin
"Oligopyrroles: Receptors for Potentially Hazardous Materials"
22 April 2008
Prof. Robert Kennedy, University of Michigan
"Microfabricated Systems for Bioanalysis"
5 April 2007
Prof. Karen Wooley, Washington University in St. Louis
"Fundamental Aspects of the Preparation and Study of Discrete Nanoscale Objects, Designed for Biomedical Applications"
28 April 2006
Prof. J. Michael Ramsey, University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill
"Micro- and Nanofabricated Devices for Chemical and Biochemical Measurement Systems"
2005
Prof. Susan M. Lunte, University of Kansas
29 April 2004
Prof. Neal R. Armstrong, University of Arizonia
"Disks to Rods: New Molecular Electronic Materials from Simple Disk-Shaped Dye Molecules"
15 April 2003
Prof. Dennis L. Lichtenberger, University of Arizonia
"Where are the Electron and What are They Doing? Applications of Gas-Phase Photoelectron Spectroscopy to Biology, Catalysis, and New and Unusual Molecules"
30 April 2002
Prof. Alan G. Marshall, Florida State University
"Accurate Mass Measurement: Taking Full Analytical Advantage of Nature's Isotopic Complexity"
29 April 2001
Prof. Robert J. Angelici, Iowa State University
"Catalysis by Metal Complexes Tethered on Silica-Supported Metals"
29 February 2000
Prof. Kendall N. Houk, University of California — Los Angeles
"Reactions: From Femtosecond Dynamics to Antibody Catalysis"
15 April 1999
Prof. Malcolm D. Ingram, University of Aberdeen (Scotland)
"The Science of Glassy Materials"
7 April 1998
Prof. Jerry L. Atwood. University of Missouri — Columbia
"Non-Covalent Synthesis of Large Supramolecular Assemblies"
24 April 1997
Prof. Galen D. Stucky, University of California — Santa Barbara
"The Organic/Inorganic Interface and Materials Synthesis in the Nano- to Macroscal Continuum"
18 April 1996
Prof. F. Fleming Crim, University of Wisconsin — Madison
"Vibrational State Control of Chemistry: Exciting the Reaction Coordinate in Bimolecular Reaction and Photodissociation"
21 April 1995
Prof. John L. Margrave, Rice University
"An Alchemist's Dream? The Synthesis of Diamond!"
18 March 1994
Prof. John T. Yates Jr., University of Pittsburgh
"The Chemistry of the Dangling Bond at the Si(100) Surface"
27 April 1993
Dr. D. Bruce Chase, DuPont Science and Engineering Labs
"Fourier Transform Raman Spectroscopy: The Importance of the Right Questions in Research"
16 March 1992
Prof. Richard E. Smalley, Rice University
"Doping the Fullerenes"
2 April 1991
Prof. Fred Basolo, Northwestern University
"Kinetics and Mechanisms of Reactions of Metal Carbonyls Revisited"
27 March 1990
Prof. Jeanette Grasselli, Ohio University
"Solving Chemical Problems in Industry"
25 April 1989
Prof. Daryle H. Busch, University of Kansas
"Application of Inclusion Chemistry to Biomimicry — Holey Molecules as Heme Protein Models"
28 April 1988
Prof. Eric Weitz, Northwestern University
"Applications of Transient Infrared Spectroscopy to the Study of Coordinatively Unsaturated Organometallics and Organic Radicals"
2 April 1987
Prof. William Schrenk, Kansas State University
"The History of Chemistry at KSU"
23 April 1986
Carl Anderson
"Quincy — Fact or Fiction"
10 April 1985
Prof. Marye Ann Fox, University of Texas
"Photo-Electro Chemistry"
5 May 1983
Prof. C. E. Meloan, Kansas State University
"Being a Professional"
4 April 1978
Prof. William G. Fateley, Kansas State University
"Scientific Hoaxes, Art, & Quantum Mechanics"