Organic Colloquium & Named Lectures

 

Each year, UCLA hosts roughly 25 outside speakers for our Organic Colloquium. This provides our graduate students and postdoctorals the opportunity to interact with distinguished academic and industrial researchers. UCLA has vibrant training programs in all aspects of organic chemistry and our colloquia greatly enrich the experience. Your support would help ensure this tradition continues into the future.

Named Lectures

Orville L. Chapman Lecture
The Chapman lectures honor UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Professor Orville L. Chapman (1932-2004) who was internationally recognized as a brilliant, creative scholar and an intellectual leader in various fields of endeavor. He was a trailblazer and innovator in photochemistry, matrix isolation spectroscopy, reaction intermediates, chemical communication, the mechanism of olfactory perception, polymers, and materials design.

Christopher S. Foote Lecture
The Foote lectures honor UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Christopher Spencer Foote (1935-2005) who discovered the role of singlet oxygen in photooxidations, and spent much of his career elaborating the chemistry of this simple but highly reactive molecule. His work on DNA damage and on the photophysical properties of the fullerenes were among other influential discoveries from his laboratories.

John D. and Edith M. Roberts Lecture
The Roberts lecture honors alumnus John D. (“Jack”) Roberts (1918-2016) who was one of the most influential chemists of the last 75 years. Roberts received his B.A. degree at UCLA 1941 and his Ph.D. in 1944 under the direction of William G. Young. He continued at UCLA as an Instructor from 1944-45. Following positions at UCLA, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Roberts joined the faculty at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1952.

Donald Cram Lecture
The Cram lectures honor UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Professor Donald J. Cram (1919-2001). Cram was a Nobel Prize-winning chemist who taught and conducted research at UCLA for more than 50 years.  An endowment was established in his memory and it began sponsoring departmental events in 2002. The first of these was the “50 Year of Cram’s Rule” symposium. This was followed by the Cram Debate in 2003 and the Cram Colloquy in 2005. Professor Patrick Harran, the first Donald J. Cram Chair in Organic Chemistry, established and hosts the Cram Lectureship, inviting renowned, international chemists to meet with the faculty and students in the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.