Robert Horton
Robert L. “Bob” Horton, born in Shreveport, LA, was a seventh-grade Science Fair participant early in the “Sputnik Craze”, leading Bob to become a research enthusiast. He later graduated “cum laude” in Chemistry from Rice University, earned a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and returned to Rice for post-doctoral research.
In August 1971, Bob began teaching entry-level courses in Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science at the Alexandria campus of Louisiana State University. The UC Berkeley Chapter of Sigma Xi elected him to Full Member in 1972. Professor Bruce Mahan’s very serious illness beginning about 1972 left Bob without a mentor.
Sigma Xi led him to Jett Arthur’s Cotton Chemicals Research Group at the US Department of Agriculture in New Orleans. This connection brought access to equipment otherwise out of reach for an Assistant Professor at LSU at Alexandria. Teaching there was rewarding, but adding research to teaching, even better.
Dr. Arthur’s mentorship materially fostered Bob’s next career, creating and developing new products and processes for the Petroleum Industry. To date, Bob has 78 peer-reviewed publications, including 65 unique issued patents and published patent applications.