Larry Robinson (chemist)

Last updated
Larry Robinson
12th President of Florida A&M University
In office
November 30, 2017 –August 4, 2024
Thesis Fractional Independent Yields of Silver-121 and Cadmium-121 from Thermal-Neutron Fission of Uranium-235  (1984)

Larry Robinson is an American professor and academic administrator, who served as president of Florida A&M University from 2017 to 2024.

Contents

Career

Robinson, an African American, started his college education at LeMoyne-Owen College and graduated from Memphis State University now the University of Memphis, in 1979 with summa cum laude honors and a B.S. degree in chemistry. [1] He received a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis in 1984. In that same year, he joined the research staff of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where he was a research scientist and served as a group leader, of the neutron activation analysis facility. [1] He accepted a position as a visiting professor at FAMU in January 1995, and left ORNL two years later to accept a permanent faculty position at FAMU. [2]

At FAMU, Robinson became director of the university's Environmental Sciences Institute. In addition to conducting research on environmental chemistry of coastal ecosystems, he had a leadership role in establishing new B.S. and Ph.D. degree programs. [3] In 2003, he became FAMU provost and vice president for academic affairs, serving until 2005. In 2007 he became the university's chief operating officer and vice president for research, and served for several weeks as the school's interim president. In May 2010, he left that position to become Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In November 2011 he returned to FAMU as a professor and special assistant, and in March 2012 he was named provost and vice president for academic affairs. [4] [5] [6]

In July 2012, the FAMU Board of Trustees appointed Robinson to serve as the university's interim president, replacing James H. Ammons. On September 15, 2016, he was named to a third stint as interim university president following the approval of a separation agreement with the 11th president, Elmira Mangum. On November 30, 2017, Robinson was named the 12th President of Florida A&M University. [1] Robinson resigned from the presidency in July 2024.

Research

One of Robinson's primary research interests is environmental chemistry, including the detection of trace elements in environmental matrices by nuclear methods. [7] In 1991, while at ORNL, Robinson was a participant in a well-publicized investigation into the cause of the death of 19th-century U.S. President Zachary Taylor. When Taylor died rather suddenly in 1850, the cause of his death was listed as gastroenteritis, but some historians thought he might have been poisoned with arsenic. His descendants gave permission for his remains to be exhumed in order to allow analysis of tiny samples of his hair and fingernails. With ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor as a neutron source, Robinson and colleagues used neutron activation analysis to measure arsenic levels in the samples. [8] [9] The analysis led to a finding that Taylor did not die from arsenic poisoning, as arsenic was not detected in the samples, indicating that arsenic concentrations were many times lower than would be expected in arsenic poisoning. [8] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arsenic</span> Chemical element with atomic number 33 (As)

Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and the atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is a notoriously toxic heavy metal. It occurs naturally in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. It has various allotropes, but only the grey form, which has a metallic appearance, is important to industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Californium</span> Chemical element with atomic number 98 (Cf)

Californium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Cf and atomic number 98. It was first synthesized in 1950 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory by bombarding curium with alpha particles. It is an actinide element, the sixth transuranium element to be synthesized, and has the second-highest atomic mass of all elements that have been produced in amounts large enough to see with the naked eye. It was named after the university and the U.S. state of California.

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Uranium is a chemical element; it has symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium radioactively decays, usually by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of this decay varies between 159,200 and 4.5 billion years for different isotopes, making them useful for dating the age of the Earth. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 and uranium-235. Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oak Ridge National Laboratory</span> Laboratory in Tennessee, United States

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Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the United States by enrollment and the only public historically black university in Florida. It is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, as well as one of the state's land grant universities, and is accredited to award baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

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Neutron transport is the study of the motions and interactions of neutrons with materials. Nuclear scientists and engineers often need to know where neutrons are in an apparatus, in what direction they are going, and how quickly they are moving. It is commonly used to determine the behavior of nuclear reactor cores and experimental or industrial neutron beams. Neutron transport is a type of radiative transport.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvin M. Weinberg</span> American nuclear physicist (1915–2006)

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James H. Ammons is an American educator, who is the Chancellor of Southern University at New Orleans. He served as president of Florida A&M University (FAMU) from July 2, 2007, until his resignation took effect on July 16, 2012. He is a native Floridian who grew up in the heart of Florida's citrus belt. He graduated from Winter Haven High School in 1970 and entered Florida A&M University on the Thirteen College Curriculum Program during the fall semester of 1970. Ammons was appointed Chancellor at Southern University in New Orleans January 8, 2021.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Office of the President". president.famu.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  2. ↑ "Board of Trustees Appoints Provost Robinson as Interim President". Florida A&M University. July 16, 2012.
  3. ↑ "NOAA Leadership: Dr. Larry Robinson". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  4. ↑ "About the Interim President". Florida A&M University. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  5. ↑ Blackburn, Doug (July 17, 2012). "Robinson takes over at FAMU". Tallahassee Democrat. Tallahassee.com.
  6. ↑ "Larry Robinson becomes interim president at FAMU after James Ammons' resignation". WSTP 10 News. Tampa Bay, Florida. July 16, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Larry Robinson". Environmental Sciences Institute, Florida A&M University. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  8. 1 2 "President Zachary Taylor and the Laboratory: Presidential Visit from the Grave". ORNL Review. 1993. Archived from the original on 2012-07-02.
  9. ↑ "Scientists Conduct Tests in Reactor on Remains of Zachary Taylor". Los Angeles Times. June 23, 1991.
  10. ↑ "Arsenic and Zachary Taylor". Analytical Chemistry. 63 (18): 871A. September 1991. doi:10.1021/ac00018a712.
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