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41st IUPAC Council Meeting

Nominee for the Bureau

Prof. R. G. Gilbert (Australia)

Prof. R.G. Gilbert

Education and Career: Studied at the University of Sydney and graduated with the University Medal in 1966. He completed his Ph.D. at the Australian National University, Canberra, in 1970, on the theory of unimolecular reactions. He did a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT (Cambridge, MA, USA) as a Harkness Fellow, working on chemical dynamics. He returned to Sydney University as a Lecturer in 1970. He holds a Personal Chair in Polymer Chemistry (appointed in 1992). In 1999, the Key Centre for Polymer Colloids was established (by the Australian Research Council) within the University of Sydney, with Prof. Gilbert as Director. In the mid-1970s, his interest in polymers was aroused by his colleague, Prof. Donald H. Napper, and the two collaborated for many years.

Prof. Gilbert’s research interests over the years have been in the theory of chemical dynamics (with concomitant experimental work), particularly in gas-phase unimolecular reactions, but also including solution dynamics, and in the fundamentals and applications of the formation and properties of polymer colloids. He developed theories to understand the pressure dependence of unimolecular reactions, including models for collisional energy transfer and for microscopic rate coefficients for barrierless reactions. In 1990, he published (with Dr. Sean Smith) a book on the theory of unimolecular reactions, which is seen as definitive. In polymer colloids, his work has included the development of means, using appropriately designed experiments, to determine rate coefficients for individual processes in these very complex heterogeneous systems, and then using the data so obtained to determine mechanisms. His book on this topic, published in 1995, is regarded as a landmark. Most recently, his research has broadened to look at polymer colloids in natural systems (e.g., starches and natural rubber latex), and to bridge the gap between chemical and chemical engineering sciences in the manufacture of industrial products.

He consults widely with industry around the world. Prof. Gilbert speaks and lectures in English, French, and German. Over the years, he has supervised 38 Ph.D. and M.Sc. students, and 22 postdoctoral fellows. He received an Excellence in Teaching Award at the University of Sydney in 1990. His awards include both the Polymer and Physical Chemistry Medals, and the Smith Medal, of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. In 1994, he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He is author of two books, three patents, and about 250 papers. His hobbies are music and surfing (he was champion in his age division in the Australian bodysurfing titles in 1986 and 1988).

Related Professional Activities: Prof. Gilbert has served on the editorial boards of a number of journals: International Journal of Chemical Kinetics, Chemtracts Macromolecular Chemistry, Trends in Polymer Science, Polymer, Polymers for Advanced Technologies, Journal of Rubber Research, Biomacromolecules, and Journal of Polymer Science. For several years, he was the Chair of the Editorial Board of the Australian Journal of Chemistry, at a time which saw major changes in this journal. He has been Chair of the Physical Chemistry and Polymer Divisions of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and on the executive board of that organization in various capacities. He served on the Australian National Committee for Strategic Review of Chemistry Research in Australia in 1992-1993. He has been Secretary of the International Polymer Colloids Group from 1997, and is Vice Chair of the Gordon Conference in Polymer Colloids in 2001. He served on the RACI International Relations Committee from 1995 to 2000.

IUPAC Offices and Assignments: Prof. Gilbert’s involvement with IUPAC started in 1986, when he led the Working Party on Modeling Polymerization Kinetics and Processes; he passed the baton of leadership of this group to Prof. Michael Buback in 1998, but is still an active Task Group member. This WP has produced a series of papers on rate coefficients in free-radical polymerizations that are widely cited in the international literature, and has established benchmark procedures for consistent measurement procedures and values for these quantities. He became a Titular Member in Commission IV.2 in 1992. In 1996, he was elected Vice President and then President (from 1998) of the Macromolecular Division. He served as Chair of the IUPAC Division Presidents' meeting in 1999. He was Chair of Macro98 (the IUPAC World Polymer Conference) in 1998. He was leader of the Australian delegation to the IUPAC General Assembly in 1995 and 1997, and has been a member of the Australian delegation to every General Assembly since 1992. He was the Convener of the IUPAC "New Directions" Asian Summit held in Singapore in 1997. He was a member of the IUPAC Strategy Development and Implementation Committee in 1997, which produced a blueprint for the major reforms that IUPAC is now implementing. He served as a member of the organizing committee for the IUPAC Congress, Berlin, in 1999, and of a number of IUPAC-sponsored conferences around the world. He is Conference Co-chair, and Chair of Scientific Program Committee, of the IUPAC Scientific Congress in 2001.

 

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at 41st IUPAC Council Meeting


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