Eric Block
Distinguished Professor
Chemistry
University at Albany
United States of America
Biography
Carla Rizzo Delray Distinguished Professor Eric Block is a specialist in the field of organic chemistry, particularly involving compounds containing sulfur. He is also an expert in food and agricultural chemistry, including areas associated with garlic, onions and other alliums. Block is the author of 250 scientific papers, four books, and ten patents. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Chemical Society’s 2016 Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products, is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society, and has been a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University and a Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and at Harvard. Block, who received his doctorate from Harvard University, has been teaching at UAlbany since 1981, serving as Department of Chemistry chair for six years. Block has been interviewed on Science Friday and his work has been featured in The New York Times and on National Public Radio (NPR).
Research Interest
Organic chemistry; food chemistry; garlic, onions and other alliums; olfaction (the sense of smell); the chemistry of sulfur and selenium
