William D. Smart Seminars
In 2005, the William D. Smart Seminar Series in Chemistry was established at the University of West Florida thanks to an endowment gift of $100,000 from William and Mary Smart of Pensacola. The endowment allows the Department of Chemistry to host distinguished scientists to campus to present and discuss cutting-edge scientific research.
Smart Seminars in Chemistry
In 2005, the William D. Smart Seminar Series in Chemistry was established at the University of West Florida thanks to an endowment gift of $100,000 from William and Mary Smart of Pensacola. The endowment allows the Department of Chemistry to host distinguished scientists on campus to present and discuss cutting-edge scientific research. In the last decade, we have hosted some of the most prominent chemists in the world. This list includes Sir Harry Kroto (1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry) and Sir Fraser Stoddart (2016 Nobel Prize in chemistry).
Dr. Steven P. Nolan, Senior Professor of Chemistry at Ghent University
This year's speaker, Professor Steven P. Nolan is a Senior Professor of Chemistry at Ghent University, Belgium. Prof. Steven P. Nolan was born in Québec City. He obtained his B.Sc. from the University of West Florida in 1983 before moving to the University of Miami to work with Prof. Carl Hoff on the thermochemistry of organometallic compounds. After a postdoctoral stay with Prof. Tobin J. Marks at Northwestern University, he joined the University of New Orleans in 1990, rapidly rising to the rank of University Research Professor in 1999. In 2006 he joined the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ). In early 2009, he moved to the School of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and in 2017 moved to his present position in the Department of Chemistry of Ghent University as Senior Full Professor.
Professor Nolan’s work has been recognized with numerous awards such as the recent A. C. Cope Scholar award from the ACS (2023) along with various other recognitions such as an ERC advanced grant and election to learned Societies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the European Academy of Sciences. Prof. Nolan has published 3 monographs and over 650 research papers. His work has an H-index of 119. Professor Nolan’s research interests revolve around the design and synthesis of catalytic complexes enabling organic transformations.
UWF Lecture
February 5th at 2:30PM - Building 58A/113
Title: Mining with Gold: A Journey Towards Sustainability
Abstract: The development of organogold complexes and their uses in homogeneous catalysis will be discussed along with a series of discoveries providing insights into the nature of reactive species in gold catalysis.
IHMC Lecture
February 6th at 5:30 PM - 40 South Alcaniz, Pensacola, FL.
Title: What can gold do for you? A synthetic chemist’s perspective
Abstract: Gold! A cry dating back to various gold rushes. This simple word has provoked and still provokes various emotions in us. Our fascination with gold continues today from its use in jewelry to silly yet fascinating shows about earth-moving equipment digging up various landscapes in search of nuggets. Here the larger the better!
From this synthetic chemist’s perspective, gold has permitted the discovery of countless treasures. The reasons behind the interest in gold chemistry and catalysis will be presented as well as the inner workings of chemical transformations enabled by gold.
Future Speakers
To be announced.
| Year | Speaker and Topic |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Dr. Angela K. Wilson, Michigan State University |
| 2023 | Dr. Karen L. Wooley, Texas A&M University (Polymer) |
| 2019 | Dr. Jeffrey S. Moore, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Materials) |
| 2018 | Dr. Richard D. McCollough, Harvard University (Materials) |
| 2017 | Dr. Monica Olvera de la Cruz, Northwestern University (Inorganic) |
| 2016 | Dr. John Hartwig, University of California, Berkeley (Organic) |
| 2015 | Dr. Anthony J. Ryan, OBE, University of Sheffield (Polymers) |
| 2014 | Dr. Geraldine L. Richmond, University of Oregon (Organic) |
| 2011 | Dr. Ken Raymond, University of California (Inorganic) |
| 2011 | Dr. Michael Summers, University of Maryland (Organic) |
| 2010 | Dr. Daniel Nocera, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Materials) |
| 2009 | Sir Fraser Stoddart, Northwestern University (Inorganic) |
| 2007 | Sir Harry Kroto, Florida State University (Inorganic) |
