Rate My Professor Geoffrey Lawrance

Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrance holds the position of Emeritus Professor in the Discipline of Chemistry within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He earned his BSc and BSc (Honours) from the University of Queensland, PhD from the University of Queensland, Graduate Diploma in Education (Tertiary Teaching) from the University of Melbourne, and Doctor of Science from the University of Queensland. His extensive career at the University of Newcastle includes roles as Professor of Chemistry from 1986, Head of the Department of Chemistry, Deputy Dean, Dean, and Assistant Dean Research (Science & IT) from 1992 to 1995. Professor Lawrance has supervised numerous honours and PhD students, with many graduates securing positions in academia and industry.

Professor Lawrance's research centers on inorganic and coordination chemistry, encompassing the synthesis and characterization of acyclic and macrocyclic polydentate ligands and their transition metal complexes, reaction mechanisms including high-pressure kinetics and activation volumes, stereochemistry, electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and metal-catalyzed hydrolysis processes. His applied research addresses mineral processing, hydrometallurgy, waste treatment, metals recovery, and post-combustion capture of carbon dioxide through kinetics of CO2 reactions with amines. He authored the textbook Introduction to Coordination Chemistry (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), co-authored chapters in Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry II and Encyclopaedia of Inorganic Chemistry II, and published approximately 300 papers and reviews, achieving an h-index of 31. Key honors include the Royal Australian Chemical Institute Rennie Medal and substantial grants totaling over $4.8 million, primarily from the Australian Research Council. He founded and co-edited the journal Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms and served on editorial boards, delivering major reviews in Accounts of Chemical Research and Chemical Reviews, underscoring his influence in the field.