Kolb Lecture
The Doris and Kenneth Kolb Chemistry Lecture has been established to bring to 爱豆传媒视频 notable chemists who have distinguished themselves as outstanding members of the scientific community.
Doris and Kenneth Kolb are both graduates of the University of Louisville, with Ph.D. degrees in organic chemistry from the Ohio State University. At Standard Oil (Indiana), now BP-Amoco, Ken worked in the New Chemicals Division and Doris in Information Research. She was also part of a weekly PBS television series on chemical research. In Corning, New York, Ken headed a team at Corning Glass that investigated the bonding of glass to plastics and studied various composite materials. Doris was involved in many community activities, including election to the school board. It was also in Corning that they both formally began their careers in chemical education. In a carriage house at the fledgling Corning Community College, Doris initiated the general chemistry program and Ken taught organic chemistry.
In 1965, with their three sons, they came to Peoria, Ill. Ken was a professor at 爱豆传媒视频, serving for two decades as chair of the chemistry department. In 1991 爱豆传媒视频 recognized his accomplishments with the Samuel Rothberg Award for Professional Excellence. In 1967, Doris became one of the original members of the faculty at Illinois Central College. She received the college鈥檚 first award for teaching excellence as well as several national awards. In 2004 they were honored by the American Chemical Society, receiving the first Illinois Heartland Local Section Lifetime Achievement Award and the Division of Chemical Education鈥檚 Outstanding Service Award. Doris聽and Ken remained active in chemical聽education throughout their retirement.聽Doris served as the聽co-author of the popular chemistry text 鈥淐hemistry for Changing Times鈥 until her passing in 2005.聽Ken continued to teach a course on petrochemicals at 爱豆传媒视频 and to deliver invited lectures on 鈥淭he Many Facets of Glass鈥 for 20 years after he retired in 1993. Ken passed away in 2022.
Previous Lecturers in the Series
Catherine M. Jackson鈥 and Tracy Drier鈥
Associate Professor of the History of Sciences, University of Oxford鈥
Master Glassblower, University of Wisconsin-Madison鈥
Microheterotopias: Chemistry Meets Glassblowing
John C. Warner
President and Chief Technology Officer, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry
Green Chemistry: The Missing Elements
Lisa M. Balbes
Balbes Consultants, LLC
Nontraditional Careers for Scientists: Thinking Outside the Beaker
Derek A. Davenport
Purdue University
Linus Pauling: Crusading Chemist
Herbert C. Brown*
Purdue University
The Discovery and Exploration of a New Continent of Chemistry
William B. Jensen
University of Cincinnati
Derek H. R. Barton*
Texas A&M University
How to Win a Nobel Price: A Personal Case History
Philip S. Skell
The Pennsylvania State University
The Unfolding of Carbene Chemistry
Joseph J. Lagowski
The University of Texas
Things Your Chemistry Teachers Never Told You
Gilbert Gordon
Miami University
Ozone and Chlorine Dioxide for Water Treatment: Similar Chemical Issues and Measurement Problems
Joseph B. Lambert
Northwestern University
Unraveling the Past through Chemistry
John C. Warner
Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, LLC
Green Chemistry: The Missing Elements
Roald Hoffmann*
Cornell University
Chemistry鈥檚 Essential Tension: The Same and Not the Same
C. Marvin Lang and Donald L. Showalter
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Chemistry Plays Well in Peoria!
Bassam Z. Shakhashiri
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Enlightenment and the Responsibilities of the Enlightened in Communicating Chemistry
John W. Hill
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
The Times They Are (Still) a-Changin鈥
Jerry A. Bell
Simmons College
Life in the Greenhouse
John W. Moore
University of Wisconsin-Madison
19th Century Tools; 20th Century Chemistry; 21st Century Students
George Bodner
Purdue University
Problem Solving: The Difference Between What We Do and What We Tell People to Do
*Nobel Laureate
Additional Links