Greg Robinson

 

Tuesday, January 31
Gregory H. Robinson
Location: 4 - 5 pm at Student Union Theatre

Chemistry, Race, Football, and O. Henry

A native of Alexandria, Alabama, Gregory H. Robinson, the fourth of six children and the first of three sons, was born May 2, 1958 to Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Robinson. The State of Alabama, as was the practice of the Jim Crow American South in the late 1950s, was firmly nestled in the acerbic embrace of state-sanctioned racial segregation. Consequently, Greg attended state-mandated racially segregated schools for most of his primary school years. Racial integration of the public school system abruptly arrived in northeast Alabama almost a decade and a half after the landmark 1954 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court wherein state laws supporting separate public school systems based on race (i.e., “separate-but-equal”) were ruled unconstitutional. An exceptional athlete, Greg was a four-year letterman in baseball, basketball, and football—and student body president his senior year—at Alexandria High School. He was awarded a football scholarship to Jacksonville State University in 1976.

Greg obtained his B.S. in Chemistry (1980) from Jacksonville State University (Alabama) where he was also a member of the Gamecock football team earning All-Conference, UPI All-American (Honorable Mention), and the Gulf South Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1979. Under the guidance of Professor Jerry L. Atwood, graduate school at The University of Alabama followed where Greg studied the organometallic chemistry of aluminum. Upon receiving his Ph.D. in Chemistry (1984) he joined the faculty of Clemson University (South Carolina) and developed a productive research program emphasizing the organometallic chemistry of the group 13 elements. In 1994 Professor Robinson was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship and studied in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Herbert Schumann at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany). Professor Robinson joined the faculty at The University of Georgia in 1995 and now holds the title Franklin Professor of Chemistry. Professor Robinson’s research may be described as both provocative and innovative.

 Professor Robinson has received a number of honors including The Southern Chemist Medal, the Charles H. Stone Award, the Percy L. Julian Award, and the Charles H. Herty Medal. Most recently, Professor Robinson was awarded the 2010 Lamar Dodd Creative Research Award, one of the highest research honors bestowed by The University of Georgia Research.

For more information, please follow the links

• Professor of Chemistry at The University of Georgia