Dear Colleagues and Students,

With sadness I must report news about one of our colleagues.

Emeritus Professor Ulrich T. Mueller-Westerhoff, Ph.D., passed away after a brief illness on January 30, 2019 in Storrs, CT. He was born in Wuppertal, Germany, and grew up in Austria and Germany. After studies in chemistry at the Universities in Marburg and Munich, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Darmstadt in 1967. A postdoctoral stay at the University of California at Berkeley where he firstly synthesized uranocene was followed by employment at the IBM Research Station in Almaden, California. He transitioned back to academia when he moved to the University of Connecticut as Head of the Department of Chemistry in 1982. He was a Guest Professor at the University of Bern, University of Würzburg, and the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research. He was awarded an Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation Senior US Scientist Award. He achieved emeritus status at UConn in 2002.

His research field in organometallic chemistry encompassed theoretical aspects of the bonding in sandwich complexes, the chemistry of metallocenophanes, and the utilization of metallodithiolenes. He prepared the last nickel metallodithiolene complex as a laser dye in the emeritus lab in 2017. In support of undergraduate research activities in chemistry, Ulli established the Mueller-Westerhoff Scholarship fund at the University of Connecticut, and many undergraduates have been, and continue to be, supported throughout the summers and the academic year. His sharp intellect, pointed opinions, and generous friendship will be missed.

Services are private.

Regards,
Christian Brückner