John D. Lamb

Until his retirement in July 2014, John D. Lamb was the Eliot A. Butler Professor of Chemistry and Associate Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He was born in Ontario, Canada, and served an LDS mission in northern Italy. He received his PhD in Inorganic/Physical Chemistry in 1978. He worked as Program Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy, then joined the BYU Chemistry faculty with a joint appointment as executive director of research and creative activities. He served for twenty years as editor in chief of the Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Macrocyclic Chemistry and for eight years as BYU associate dean of undergraduate education. He served as a visiting lecturer at three universities in Italy, one in Germany, and one in China. He is the recipient of the BYU Outstanding Achievement in Sponsored Research Award, the Maeser Excellence in Research and Creative Arts Award, the Alcuin Fellowship, and the Maeser Excellence in Teaching award; and he was Carnegie Professor of the Year in 2000. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed papers on macrocycle-based separations and received the International Ion Chromatography Award in Berlin, Germany, in 2012. He is author of the online multimedia tutorial ChemTutor. He has served as chair of the BYU Faculty Advisory Council and of the State of Utah Science Advisory Council. He was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and is a visual artist whose works in oil and egg tempera have been displayed in several juried art exhibits. He and his wife, Betty, have six sons and eight grandchildren.