CLAS Campaign
Noted Chemist Frank Harris Endows QTP Professorship
This article was originally published in the April 1999 issue of CLASnotes.
Pioneering
theoretical chemist Frank E. Harris, who recently joined a QTP research team,
has given the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences an endowment worth $1 million
for a professorship in theoretical chemistry.
Harris, who also holds a part-time appointment as a physics professor at the University of Utah, said UF's international reputation in theoretical chemistry attracted him to the university and prompted his pledge of $600,000 to fund an endowment. The gift is eligible for a $400,000 state match.
"I came to UF because its theoretical chemistry group is internationally acclaimed and it contains people I enjoy working with," explains the Boston-born scholar. "The Quantum Theory Project was generous enough to offer me first-class working accommodations and status within the group long before I decided to make the donation."
The Quantum Theory Project involves 11 UF faculty in chemistry and physics and approximately 50 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists and support staff. The group produces more than 50 scientific papers and attracts some $1 million in research support a year. QTP-affiliated faculty also organize several annual conferences and are extremely active in the international scientific community.
According to Distinguished Professor and former chemistry chair Mike Zerner, the Harris professorship will be named in honor of its donor.
"Dr. Harris's generous endowment guarantees the continuation of the program in theoretical chemistry at the University of Florida," Zerner says. "Income from the fund will support the research endeavors of the Frank E. Harris Professor in Theoretical Chemistry."
Harris received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. He has taught at Harvard, the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University. In 1968, he became a Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the University of Utah, and he maintains a part-time appointment there. Harris became affiliated with the UF Quantum Theory group in early 1998.
Harris is known as one of the earliest developers of methods for calculating the electronic structures of small molecules, and his discoveries have application in areas including atmospheric and space chemistry, combustion of exotic fuels and energy storage in novel chemical compounds. Recently, he has focused his research on the use of computers to solve mathematical problems that arise in electronic structure theory.
But Harris' achievements are not limited to the laboratory. While serving as dean of the College of Science at Utah, Harris guided that university's mathematics department to national prominence. Also, he developed and marketed computer hardware that permitted the first generation of laser printers to interface with IBM minicomputers.
As an active member of the Quantum Theory Project at UF, Harris continues research in theoretical chemistry and solid-state physics. Additionally, he is helping the Project develop a faculty hiring plan and chairing an effort, which he initiated, to build a permanent fund for the QTP-organized Sanibel Symposia.
"These annual meetings on theoretical chemistry are now in their 39th year and enjoy world-wide visibility," he explains.
Harris plans to complete the Harris Professorship gift by 2007, at which time, he says, it will "add to the strength of this already outstanding group and ensure that the program continues to prosper in the 21st century."
