George Newkome (University of Akron)

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George R. Newkome - Prof. of Chemistry & Polymer Sciences, University of Akron - was awarded an Honoris Causa on the 8th July 2015.

Photo : George Newkome © Gautier Dufau
George Newkome © Gautier Dufau

After obtaining his PhD in organic chemistry from Kent State University in 1966, George R. Newkome carried out a two-year post-doctoral internship at Princeton before starting his academic career in 1968 at Louisiana State University. In 1986, he joined the University of South Florida as Vice-President for Research while also working as Professor of Chemistry until 2000. He then integrated the University of Akron where he still works today. His functions include Vice-President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School until the Fall of 2014.

Research, collaboration, distinctions

An outstanding organic chemist and polymrist, Prof. Newkome is at the origin of dendrimer chemistry (he participated in their discovery in the early 1980s) as well as their construction, aspects, functions and supramolecular applications.

At the age of 75, he has published more than 500 scientific articles, is the author or editor of more than 20 research or education books and around 50 patents. He is also president of the Research and Investment Funds Foundation of North-East Ohio as well as being a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American National Academy of Inventors.

For over 20 years, Prof. Newkome has collaborated with researchers from the University of Bordeaux (Institute of Molecular Science, ISM Bordeaux) and was a visiting professor in 1998. He has held numerous conferences at Bordeaux that have always met with great success, attended by both students and researchers alike.

The DHC for Prof. Newkome was proposed by Didier Astruc, Professeur emeritus at the University of Bordeaux (ISM).