Phil Brooks celebrates 50 years at Rice

Former students, colleagues and friends gathered at Rice Sept. 26 to celebrate Professor Philip Brooks (bottom, right) and his 50 years in the Department of Chemistry. Three of his former students — including Mike Barnes ’89 (bottom, left) — now professors themselves, gave lectures during a mini-symposium and highlighting Brooks’ seminal contributions to chemical physics and the understanding of some of the most fundamental chemical processes. The symposium was followed by a reception at Brochstein Pavilion. Brooks earned his bachelor’s degree from Caltech and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. After conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago, he joined the Rice Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor on Sept. 1, 1964. As he begins his 51st year of service to Rice, Brooks continues to teach undergraduate and graduate students and to conduct forefront molecular-beam studies of chemical reaction dynamics.