Robert Grossman

Dr. Robert Grossman came to the University of Kentucky in 1994 after receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completing postdoctoral work at Cambridge University in England. He was promoted to Professor of Chemistry in 2004. 

Dr. Grossman’s primary teaching responsibilities are in the area of organic chemistry, a subject for which study is required by a wide variety of disciplines (chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmacy, chemical engineering, nutrition, biotechnology, etc.). His research interests are in the areas of organic synthesis, biochemistry of natural products, and pedagogical software development. He has collaborated with faculty in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Medicine; Education; Agriculture, Food, and Environment; and Engineering, and he has attracted funding from both the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. He is also the author of a widely used intermediate-level organic chemistry textbook, The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms. He has been active in the University faculty governance apparatus, serving on Senate Council (including a stint as Vice-Chair), several terms in the University Senate, and on various departmental, college, and University-level committees.

He and his wife Barbara, a teacher at Glendover Elementary School, have two children: Ben, a junior at UK, and Jessie.