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Joel E. Keizer ’64

Joel E. Keizer ’64, May 16, 1999, in Davis, California, of lung cancer. After graduating from Reed, he received his doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Oregon in 1969. From 1969 to 1971, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Battelle Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis, in 1971 as an assistant professor of chemistry and became a full professor in 1978. In 1993, he was given a joint appointment as professor of biology. He wrote a monograph, Statistical Thermodynamics of Nonequilibrium Processes, which later was translated into Russian, and he published more than 120 journal articles and book chapters. From 1986 to 1987 he held the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 1995, he was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He established the Institute of Theoretical Dynamics at UC Davis in 1986, which brought faculty and visitors together and was a training ground for young scientists. The biology division of the National Science Foundation selected the institute for a research training grant in 1997 that, together with matching funds from the university amounted to more than $3 million. He directed the institute until his death. Survivors include his wife, Susan Swank Keizer ’64, two children, his parents, a brother and sister.

Appeared in Reed magazine: November 1999

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