Butler Lectureship Series
Click HERE for the spring 2023 lectureship schedule.
The Butler Lectureship Series in polymer chemistry and engineering was established in 1998 by an endowment provided by George and Josephine Butler with the intent of bringing the world’s best authorities in macromolecules to our campus. The series, originally inspired by the Baker Lectureship Series at Cornell University, brings the Butler Lecturer to the Department of Chemistry for an extended period, during which time a series of lectures is given, in addition to plentiful interactions with graduate students and faculty.
To date, ten lecturers have spent time with us at the University of Florida in this capacity:
Professor Gerhard Wegner
Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany
“Supramolecular Chemistry”
Spring 1999
Professor Jean Frechet
University of California, Berkeley, CA
“Functional Polymers: From Design to Applications”
Fall 2000
Professor David Tirrell
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
“A Polymer Chemist’s View of Protein Synthesis & Design”
Fall 2002
Professor Edwin “Ned” Thomas
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
“The Science & Engineering of Block Polymer Based Materials”
Fall 2003
Professor Klaus Müllen
Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany
“Lessons from the Materials Chemist’s Toolbox”
Spring 2006
Professor Tobin Marks
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
“Some Grand Challenges in Polymeric Materials Synthesis”
Spring 2008
Professor Karen L. Wooley
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
“Retrosynthetic Analyses of Increasingly Complex Macromolecular Structures”
Fall 2010
Professor Robert Waymouth
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
“Catalysis: The Enabling Science for Polymer Chemistry”
Fall 2015 & Spring 2016
Professor Frank Bates
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
“Physical Chemistry of Macromolecules”
Spring 2018
Professor Rachel O'Reilly
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
“Macromolecular Chemistry for Self-Assembly and Biology”
Spring 2023