Texas Tech University

Purnendu K. Dasgupta Endowed Lectures

Purnendu Dasgupta

Dr. Purnendu "Sandy" Dasgupta, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor from 1992-2006. Currently the Jenkins Garrett Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington.

This annual lecture series was endowed by former students, colleagues and friends of Dr. Purnendu "Sandy" Dasgupta.


Purnendu (Sandy) Dasgupta was born in 1949 in Kolkata, India. He received a BSc (Honors) in chemistry in 1968 and an MSc in inorganic chemistry in 1970 both from the University of Burdwan in India. He then worked as a trainee researcher at the Department of Physical Chemistry at The Indian Institution of Cultivation of Sciences, in the same laboratories once graced by C. V. Raman. He went to Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge for his PhD in 1973, and received his degree in analytical chemistry under the tutelage of Philip W. West in 1977. Afterward, he worked at LSU as a part time instructor and researcher and joined the California Primate Research Center at the University of California at Davis in 1979 as an assistant Research Chemist. He joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at Texas Tech University in 1981 and rose through the ranks to be elected a Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Chemistry in 1992, the youngest person to be so honored at that time. After 25 years at Texas Tech, he left for the University of Texas at Arlington where he presently holds the Hamish Small Chair in Ion Analysis at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Sandy says that his first intention was to be a poet, but that he found it tough both from the viewpoints of needed talent and making a livelihood. In analytical chemistry, his interests touched upon many facets of the science. His basic attributes were curiosity and finding solutions to a problem; he did not stay married to a specific tool or technique. We held the first Dasgupta Symposium in his honor before he left Texas Tech. Now the generosity of his former students and colleagues have made it possible to organize a biennial Dasgupta Lecture Series in Analytical Chemistry where we expect the speakers and the topics to be at least as diverse and varied as Sandy's curiosities and interests.

Dasgupta Lecturers


2023


Professor Robert T. Kennedy
, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Public Lecture - "The Future Miniaturization of Chemistry and Biology"
Technical Lecture - "Advances in LC-MS with Applications to Metabolomics"



2018


Prof. Jonathan V. Sweedler
, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Public Lecture - "Understanding the Brain a Cell at a Time: From New Measurement Tools to New Chemical Insights"
Technical Lecture - "D-amino Acids in Our Brain: What Are They Doing and How Did They Get There? "



2014


Prof. R. Graham Cooks
, Purdue University
Public Lecture - "Chemical Analysis on Site: Mass Spectrometers in Operating Rooms, at Crime Scenes, in Grocery Stores, along Factory Floors and on your Front Lawn"
Technical Lecture - "Chemical and Materials Synthesis with the Mass Spectrometer"



2011


Prof. Gary Hieftje
, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University
"Teaching and Research: Symbiosis or Conflict?"



2009


Prof. Royce Murray
, Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina
"Publishing Chemistry: Process, Ethics, And The Internet."

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

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