The Robbins Lecture Series

The Pomona College Chemistry Department Presents the 60th Robbins Lecture Series

February 26-29, 2024

Joseph S. Francisco
University of Pennsylvania

Joseph S. Francisco is the President's Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977 and his doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983. From 1983-85, Francisco trained as a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge in England, and then returned to MIT as a Provost Postdoctoral Fellow. He was also a Visiting Associate in Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology.

Over his career to date, Francisco has published more than 760 journal articles, written several book chapters, and he is the co-author of the fundamental textbook in chemical kinetics and dynamics, Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics. He is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award, the Edward W. Morley Medal from the Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society, the Philadelphia Section Award of the American Chemical Society Philadelphia Section, Willard Gibbs Medal Award of the American Chemical Society Chicago Section, and the Centenary Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry (London). Francisco is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Francisco is currently the Executive Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and he has recently been appointed as a member of the Editorial Board for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Francisco has served on the Council of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Council. He has been a member of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. He was President of the American Chemical Society in 2010.

"Science in the Sky: The Impactful Chemical Processes Above Us"

Monday, February 26, 2024, at 8:00 p.m.
"Water in the Atmosphere: The Molecule that Changes Everything"

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.
"A Fresh Look at the Chemistry Behind Acid Rain"

Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 4:30 p.m.
"From Inconsequential to Reaction Significance: A Lesson from the Chemistry of Earth and Mars"

Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 4:30 p.m.
"Catalytic and Autocatalytic Chemical Processes in the Atmosphere"

The lecture series will be held at:
Seaver North Auditorium
645 N. College Avenue
Claremont, California

(The cross streets are College Avenue & 7th Street)

All lectures are free and open to the public.