Rate My Professor Richard Adams

Richard D. Adams is the Carolina Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina. He received a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973. Adams began his academic career as Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1973 to 1975, followed by service at Yale University as Assistant Professor from 1975 to 1980 and Associate Professor from 1980 to 1984. In 1984, he joined the University of South Carolina, where he progressed to Professor from 1984 to 1995, Arthur S. Williams Professor of Chemistry from 1995 to 2006, and Carolina Distinguished Professor from 2006 to 2017. He served as Founding Director of the USC NanoCenter from 2001 to 2005.

His research centers on the organometallic chemistry of polynuclear metal complexes, investigating their synthesis, structures, bonding, reactivity, and catalytic properties for hydrogen activation, selective oxidation of hydrocarbons, and energy conversion processes. Adams has published over 600 papers, including key contributions such as 'Binuclear Aromatic C-H Bond Activation at a Dirhenium Site' (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016), 'Facile C-H Bond Formation by Reductive Elimination at a Dinuclear Metal Site' (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2014), and recent works on alkyne coupling and zwitterionic ligands in journals like Inorganic Chemistry and Journal of Organometallic Chemistry. His impact is evidenced by extensive citations and recognition through awards including the ACS Award for Inorganic Chemistry (1999), ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry (2010), Florida ACS Award (2016), Mungo Graduate Teaching Award (2018), South Carolina Governor's Award for Excellence in Science (2003), and AAAS Fellowship (2003). He has been Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry since 1998 and delivered international keynote lectures, such as at the Asian Conference on Coordination Chemistry (2015).