Chemistry Dept. Tenures Jacobsen

Eric N. Jacobsen, a specialist in organo-metallic catalysts, has accepted a tenured position in the Chemistry department.

Jacobsen, presently an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will arrive this summer and will likely begin teaching next spring, said Cabot Professor of Chemistry Roy G. Gordon, who chairs the Chemistry department.

"Initially, he will be giving a course in his specialty," said Gordon.

Jacobsen's area of research will serve as a link between Harvard's world-renowned specialty in organic synthesis and the field of inorganic chemistry, Gordon said.

"We're very delighted to have him coming, definitely," Gordon said.

Jacobsen has won a number of awards for teaching and research, including the Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award at the University of Illinois. Gordon said these awards factored in the decision to offer him tenure.

Jacobsen has worked to develop new synthetic methods, emphasizing asymmetric catalysis. He has published numerous articles, including most recently one titled "Assymmetric Catalytic Epoxidation of Unfunctionalized Olefins," in a journal called Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis.

Jacobsen has also worked as a consultant for the Exxon Corporation, Sepracor and Ethyl Corporation. He has taught only at University of Illinois, where he joined the faculty in 1988. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health at MIT from 1986 to 1988.

Jacobsen received his doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley and a bachelor of science degree from New York University.