Noted environmental chemist speaks at FSU in honor of Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day 2012, the Florida State University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry hosted a public lecture by noted environmental chemist Joseph J. Bozell on Friday, April 13, with a reception that followed. 

The lecture was the first annual Katherine B. Hoffman Endowed Lecture in Environmental Chemistry, made possible by a $50,000 gift from FSU Professor Emerita Kitty Hoffman, who taught chemistry from 1940 to 1984. The purpose of the annual Hoffman lecture is to bring to FSU, every spring around Earth Day, a scientist of international renown to deliver an annual colloquium on environmental or sustainable chemistry. Hoffman herself was on hand for the inaugural lecture.

Professor Emerita Kitty Hoffman attends the 2012 lecture. From left, are FSU chemistry professors Joe Schlenoff, Tim Logan, and Bill Cooper, along with speaker Joe Bozell, a professor from the University of Tennessee.

“Dr. Bozell is an ideal choice for this first Hoffman lecture” says Professor Bill Cooper, associate chair of the department. “He was trained as a classical synthetic organic chemist and has devoted his professional career to developing technologies for converting renewable, biomass-based materials into value-added products.”

Cooper notes that the lecture, titled “Biomass Conversion for Renewable Resources of Energy and Feedstocks,” was designed to appeal not only to chemists but to anyone interested in understanding how chemistry will play a role in shaping a sustainable environmental future through green manufacturing processes.

Bozell is an internationally recognized expert on renewables for chemical production and in 1999 was a co-recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Presidential Green Chemistry Award.