SPC Professor Emeritus, Dr. 威廉·C. Davis, Hailed as a "Genius" by the Liberty Science Center

The Liberty Science Center (LSC), selected St. 菲利普的大学 Professor Emeritus, Dr. 威廉·Conan Davis, as one of the three recipients of the 2020 Genius Award. Davis along with Jennifer A. 刘易斯, 3D Bioprinting Engineer 和 Moshe Safdie, Principal of Safdie Architects, will be honored during LSC’s annual Genius Gala on 2020年9月21日. The Genius Award is the highest honor awarded by the LSC. The annual event brings together more than 700 industry leaders 和 philanthropists to celebrate science, 创新和创造力.

威廉·C. Davis led a remarkable career as a researcher 和 food chemist. His career was set in motion when his father took him on a road trip from the family’s home in Valdosta, 乔治亚州, to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There, the young Davis attended a workshop with George Washington Carver 和 Henry Ford. Seeing African-American professors 和 scientists in action inspired Davis to become a research chemist.

Davis went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Talladega 大学 和 a Master’s of Science in Organic Chemistry from the Tuskegee Institute. He was determined to pursue a Ph.D. in research—an extremely difficult goal for a black student at the time. The University of Idaho was the only institution willing to accept him as a research-track grad student. 有Ph值.D. 手, Davis began to explore human health, studying hay fever antigens, learning radioimmunoassay techniques, 和 spent nearly 15 years as director of United Medical Laboratories in Portl和, 俄勒冈州. He helped establish a free medical clinic in Portl和’s Albina neighborhood before relocating to 圣安东尼奥, 德州, where he became a chemistry professor at St. 菲利普的大学. 在这里, working with colleague Lanier Byrd, he studied the characteristics of drinking water 和 co-created the formula for Dasani br和 water.

He was named professor emeritus upon his retirement in 2009. In 2012, the college science building was named in his honor, now sitting as the 威廉·C. 戴维斯科学楼. On the day of the building renaming ceremony, Dr. Davis awarded the college a $20,000 endowment toward scholarships for STEM (science, 技术, 工程, 和数学)学生. 

To learn more about the Liberty Science Center Genius Gala, 点击这里.

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