University of Florida, Gainesville
Center for Macromolecular Science and Engineering - University of Florida Polymer Science Program

2015 Butler Lectureship Series
The CMSE Welcomes Stanford's Dr. Robert Waymouth

Dr. Robert Waymouth The Polymer Program at the Department of Chemistry, the George and Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, and the Center for Macromolecular Science and Engineering are pleased to announce that Dr. Robert Waymouth will be presenting the 2015 Butler Lectureship Series.

Robert Waymouth is the Robert Eckles Swain Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. He received B.S. in Mathematics and B.A. in Chemistry from Washington and Lee University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Caltech in 1987 with Professor R.H. Grubbs. He was a postdoctoral fellow with the late Professor Piero Pino at the ETH in Zurich in 1987 and joined the faculty at Stanford as an Assistant Professor in 1988. He received the Alan T. Waterman Award from the NSF in 1996, the Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science in 2009, and EPA's Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2012 with Dr. James Hedrick. He has won several university teaching awards, including the Walter J. Gores Award, the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award, and is currently a Bass Fellow in Undergraduate Education. His research interests are at the interface of Inorganic, Organic and Polymer Chemistry, in particular the development of new concepts in catalysis for the selective synthesis of both macromolecules and fine chemicals. Particular areas of interest include catalytic polymerization reactions, the development of organocatalytic polymerization strategies, and selective oxidation catalysis.

Dr. Waymouth's "Catalysis: The Enabling Science for Polymer Chemistry" will be presented throughout the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semester. Seminar times and location are listed below.

To learn more about the Butler Lectureship Series and past speakers, click here.

Spring 2016 Seminar Schedule

Seminar 6 - Monday, 2/15/16 12:00pm, LEI 309
Organocatalytic Synthesis of Biodegradable and Biocompatible Polymers
The high functional group tolerance of organic catalysts allows for the generation of highly functionalized biocompatible and biodegradable oligomers. This lecture will describe the synthesis and properties of functional polymers and some of their biological applications.

Seminar 7 - Wednesday, 2/17/16 12:00pm, LEI 309
Catalytic Polymerization: The Legacy of Ziegler, Natta, Hogan, and Banks
Pioneering advances in olefin polymerization catalysis in the 1950's spawned a vast industry. This lecture will describe the relationship between the science, technology, and properties of olefin polymers and the challenges and opportunities for new catalyst developments.

Seminar 8 - Thursday, 2/18/16 4:00pm, LEI 207
Dynamic Catalysis: A Strategy for Control of Polymer Sequence
This lecture will describe the concept of fluxional and dynamic catalyst systems which can change their behavior while enchaining monomers, providing kinetic strategies to manipulate polymer stereochemistry and composition.

Seminar 9 - Tuesday, 2/23/16 1:30pm, LEI 309
Kinetic Strategies to Control Sequence in Polymers
This lecture will describe catalyst systems designed to adopt multiple kinetic states as a strategy for controlling the sequence of monomer enchainment.

Seminar 10 - Thursday, 2/25/16 4:00pm, LEI 207
Quo Vadis? And Now for Something Completely Different
This lecture will describe ideas and projects that didn't work, problems that lie beyond our current knowledge / capabilities, and unrealized opportunities. Failure is a good thing: If your hit rate is too high, you are not reaching high enough.



Questions? Click here to contact Dr. Waymouth.

Center for Macromolecular Science and Engineering - University of Florida Polymer Science Program
UF CMSE Facebook