Andrews University is hosting a chemistry lectures seminar to feature esteemed scientists in the field. Andrews told us more:
“The public has a right to know, and the duty to ask; scientists have the responsibility of telling.” – Anne Sayre (1923 – 1998), American writer; biographer of Rosalind Franklin, co-discoverer of DNA structure.
Scientists telling! This is what the Andrews University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry seminar program is about. Enlightenment and engagement. The department will host nineteen different and dynamic speakers on very wide-ranging topics for its 57th annual lecture series. The series was formally renamed the Dwain L Ford Guest Lecture Series seven years ago in honor of
our beloved Department Chair and Organic Chemistry teacher, the late Professor Dwain L Ford, who started ourseminar program. Ford also started the Berrien County Forensic Lab on the campus of Andrews University.
This year’s series features five guest speakers during the Fall 2022 semester and fourteen during the Spring 2023 semester. The presentation will include topics on sunscreens and artificial melanin, development of therapeutics against pathogens, time crystals, emerging ideas on biological cell structure and function, the importance of diversity and inclusion in science, connections between theology and neurochemistry, biomedical applications of molecular glues, the use of nanotechnology to solve energy and environmental challenges, fundamentals of fermentation chemistry and biotechnology, the environmental importance of phosphorus removal and recovery, synthesis of new agrichemicals, novel food ingredients and biosensing materials.
Just as fascinating is the varied background and biography of our accomplished guest speakers. For example, our list includes a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry who has written eight books of poetry, a world renown chemical biologist who is a leader in using small molecules in biology and medicine, a research collaborator in the development of the Moderna COVID19 vaccine, two young chemists at the beginning of their professional careers, the chair of the American Chemical Society’s Minority Affairs Committee, and a PhD molecular biologist who is a theologian and an ordained minister of the United Reformed Church. Our speakers come from the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan Technological University, Kalamazoo College, University of Cambridge, North Carolina A&T State University, Corteva Agriscience, University of Winchester (UK), Harvard University, Lancaster University (UK), University of California (Riverside), University of Minnesota, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Cornell
University, and McGill University.
This annual Guest Lecture Series is another way Andrews University, the premier institution of higher education in Southwest Michigan and Andrews University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry seeks to bring world-class education, information, and experts, not just to its students but to the entire surrounding community. These public science lectures are all Zoom-based at 4:30pm (EST) on Thursdays and are also open to the entire university community. The lecture series is co-sponsored by the Andrews University Office of Research and Creative Scholarship and by Andrews University Community Engagement Council. Each week notifications would be sent out broadly across multiple media platforms, including in the Benton Spirit Community
Newspaper (http://bentonspiritnews.com/) providing more specific and detailed information of the upcoming lecture, guest speaker and the Zoom link.
All are invited to join our free year-long lecture series. In the past our online audience has been campus-wide, local, regional, national and international. All lectures will be recorded, uploaded and publicly accessible on YouTube. If you have questions, please contact Dr. Desmond Hartwell Murray, series coordinator and Associate Professor of Chemistry at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan (murrayd@andrews.edu)
–By Desmond Hartwell Murray
