Harry E. Bovay Jr. Annual Lecture in Chemical Biology

Visionary entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist, Harry E. Bovay, Jr. was born September 4, 1914 in Big Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Bovay graduated from Cornell University in 1936 as a civil engineer and spent the following ten years at the Humble Oil and Refining Company in Baytown, Texas. In 1946 he formed a professional engineering firm, H. E. Bovay, Jr. Consulting Engineers, which later became Bovay
Engineers, Inc. By the time he retired as chairman in 1984, his company had grown to six US offices, and operated in 27 countries. His company's work included projects for NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission, as well as chemical plants, power plants, and the first underground pedestrian tunnel in downtown Houston. Later, he formed the Mid South Telecommunications Company, developing rural
telephone, cablevision and ancillary services. Mr. Bovay continued to work until a few months prior to his death in Houston, Texas, May 24, 2011 at the age of 96.

The Harry E. Bovay, Jr. Foundation was formed at the bequest of Harry Bovay to support scholarships, education programs, and community development in the rural areas where his companies previously conducted business. His Foundation also supports the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Philmont Scout Ranch, and the National Council of the Boy Scouts. In recent years, the Bovay Foundation has provided generous support to the Department of Chemistry and Texas A&M Drug Discovery Center. In 2022, Wenshe R. Liu was named the inaugural Harry E. Bovay, Jr. Endowed Chair and has held that honor since its inception.

In addition to supporting the endowed chair position, the Bovay Foundation generously donated support in 2024 to the Texas A&M Drug Discovery Center for establishment of the Bovay Lectures in Chemical Biology that recognize prestigious chemical biologists for their significant contributions to the field. We are eternally grateful for the generosity of the Bovay Foundation and the numerous opportunities for academic advancement that Mr. Bovay has fostered over the years.

2026 Bovay Guest Lecturer

Frank M. Raushel received a B.A. degree in chemistry from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the laboratory of Professor W. W. Cleland. After postdoctoral training in biophysics at the Pennsylvania State University in the laboratory of Professor J. J. Villafranca, he joined the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1980. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and the Powell Professor of Science. The research in his laboratory focuses on the elucidation of enzyme reaction mechanisms, evolution of enzyme active sites, and the discovery of new enzyme catalyzed reactions. His laboratory is currently working to develop effective strategies for elucidating the catalytic properties of enzymes of unknown function and the biosynthetic pathways for the assembly of the capsular polysaccharides of the human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. He is the recipient of the 2009 Repligen Award from the American Chemical Society, the 2015 Gordon Hammes ACS Biochemistry Lectureship from the ACS and a Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

 Symposium Schedule - Friday, March 27

Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB), Room 1105, Texas A&M University