Illinois Ag Connection - IU Professor to Speak at SIUE's Probst Memorial Lecture March 29

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IU Professor to Speak at SIUE's Probst Memorial Lecture March 29
Illinois Ag Connection - 03/10/2010

The 34th Annual William J. Probst Memorial Lecture, sponsored each year by the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Department of Chemistry, will be presented March 29 by Gary Hieftje, Distinguished Professor and Mann Chair of Chemistry at Indiana University in Bloomington. Hieftje will speak about "Teaching and Research: Symbiosis or Conflict?" at 7 p.m. in the Meridian Ballroom, on the first floor of SIUE's Morris University Center. That same day at 2 p.m., Hieftje will speak about "Models, Methods, and Machines for Chemical Measurements" in Room 3114 of SIUE's Science Building.

As part of Probst Lecture activities, nearly three dozen undergraduate and graduate Chemistry students will present their research findings in a poster display in Meridian Ballroom from 3-5:30 p.m. and after the evening lecture, with students on hand to answer questions related to their research activities and findings during that time. SIUE Chemistry faculty and outside judges will select two undergraduate and two graduate students among those presenting findings to receive SIUE Thomas D. Bouman Memorial Research Scholar Awards, which include $500 award stipends.

Hieftje's research focuses on analytical chemistry. He currently holds 15 patents on instruments that assist chemists in analyzing and quantifying samples. He has received awards from the American Chemical Society, the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, and Research and Development Magazine, among others, for his inventions and research. Hieftje is author of 10 books and has more than 500 publications to his credit.

Since 1976, the Probst Lecture has featured talks by noted chemists, including two Nobel Prize recipients. The event pays homage to Professor William J. Probst, who taught organic chemistry at SIUE for nearly two decades before his death in 1975. In addition to sponsorship by the Department of Chemistry, the lecture series--free and open to the public--is funded by the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences, the SIUE Graduate School, SIUE Student Government and the SIUE Chemistry Club. The Sigma-Aldrich Corporation also assists with the program.