George and Camilla Smith, generous long-time supporters of the University of Utah, funded the Henry Eyring Lectureship in Chemistry and the Bryant A. Miner Lectureship in Chemistry in 2016.
These endowments memorialize two influential chemists in the Department’s history: Bryant A. Miner, Camilla Smith’s brother, who earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at the U in 1965 and taught countless chemists in his 43 years at Weber State University, and Henry Eyring, Camilla, and Bryant’s uncle, who established the U’s Graduate School and was one of our nation’s most renowned chemists.
These lectures are unique because of Henry Eyring and Bryant Miner’s teacher-student or mentor-mentee relationship. Eyring was the thesis advisor for his nephew’s doctoral degree. The inaugural lectures were held in tandem, featuring two outstanding chemists with the same mentor-mentee relationship. To our knowledge, there is no other program on campus with the same emphasis on this essential academic relationship.
The Smiths’ generosity is an excellent way to recognize Camilla’s uncle and brother and a lasting benefit to future students. These scientists are engaged in challenging yet rewarding fundamental research and teaching, carrying on the legacy of Henry Eyring and the many doctoral graduates of the past 70 years, including Bryant Miner.
The inaugural Henry Eyring and Bryant A. Miner Lectureships were scheduled for March 2017. The Henry Eyring lecture was presented by Nobel Laureate Prof. Robert Grubbs (Caltech), and the Bryant Miner lecturer was presented by former graduate student and professor, Dr. Melanie Sanford (University of Michigan).
Eyring – Miner Lectures:
Graham Cooks, Purdue University– Some Discoveries in Mass Spectrometry, April 24, 2023
Livia Eberlin, Baylor College of Medicine – Guiding Medical Decisions with Mass Spectrometry Technologies, April 25, 2023
Suzanne A. Blum, UC Irvine, February 25, 2020
Robert G. Bergman, Berkeley – A Nostalgia Trip through Organometallic Chemistry of the Late 20th Century – February 24, 2020
Squire J. Booker, Penn State – Moving beyond Methionine Synthase: New Insights Into Cobalamin-Dependent Methyltransferase Reactions, March 19, 2019
JoAnne Stubbe, MIT – Radicals: Your life is in their hands, March 18, 2019
Christy Haynes, University of Minnesota – Design and Redesign of Sustainable Engineered Nanomaterials, April 3, 2018
George Schatz, Northwestern – Nanoparticles, SERS and Theory, April 2, 2018
Melanie Sanford, University of Michigan – Development and Applications of New Fluorination Reactions, March 28, 2017
Robert Grubbs, California Institute of Technology – Design and Applications of Selective Olefin Metathesis Catalysts, March 27, 2017– Inaugural Colloquium
Photo: In the 1950s, Henry Eyring ran annual foot races against his research students. In this photo, MarLynn James is on the far left. Henry Eyring is running second from the left. Bryant Miner is winning the race in the center. The student on the right is unidentified.