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Jeffrey Roberts - Frederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science

Jeffrey Roberts has joined Purdue as the Frederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science. Roberts is an accomplished scientist in the field of physical and materials chemistry. He is the third chemist to serve as Dean of Science at Purdue.

In addition to his administrative duties, Roberts plans to continue his research in the surface chemical properties of aerosol nanoparticles. His work at Minnesota was highly collaborative—especially in engineering. Roberts noted, “A large majority of the funded faculty members in my department had funded collaborations with other people outside of the chemistry department.”

With that experience, Roberts will encourage large-scale, group research at Purdue. “There is a lot of it going on that will lead to more,” he says. He is pleased with the science, agriculture, and engineering collaboration within the Purdue Climate Change Research Center. And plans for future campus projects are promising. “The new drug discovery building is going to be a very interdisciplinary facility that is going to bring faculty members from different areas together—with common lab space and meeting rooms,” he added.

During the fall semester, Roberts met with Purdue Chemistry’s 2009 Outstanding Alumni awardees. “It was just a lot of fun to talk to them—the things that they remember about the institution. The Department of Chemistry is very impressive both in terms of the quality of its alumni, but also how much energy it puts into making sure their contributions are recognized,” Roberts said.

Source:
Purdue Marketing & Media, Kim Medaris Delker
Chemistry Communications, Steve Scherer

Jeffrey Roberts Dean, College of Science Professor, Physical Chemistry

Jeffrey Roberts
Dean, College of Science
Professor, Physical Chemistry