Oregon State chemistry alum turns childhood curiosity into lifelong giving

Finding home in chemistry

When it came time for college, Webb said Oregon State felt like a natural fit if he wanted to major in science. Initially drawn to multiple fields, he considered chemistry, math and physics before making a decision that would stick. If I didn’t like chemistry, I could always go into math,” he said. “As it turned out, I liked it.”

As an undergraduate, he began an honors research project midway through his junior year and continued it through his senior year, spending long hours in the lab working alongside now-retired emeritus chemistry professor Jim Krueger and numerous graduate students.

Krueger studied kinetics — how concentration, temperature and solvent affect reaction rates. Such research helps to reveal the step-by-step chemistry behind reactions, including processes that are important in biology and engineering.

“Having that experience was absolutely wonderful,” Webb said.

From that project, one idea stuck with him more than anything else: Chemistry offered a way to understand the world at its most foundational level. “I’ve always been curious,” he said. “Chemistry is the study of matter, after all, it is the fundamental component.”

After Oregon State, Webb went on to earn his doctorate at Iowa State University and complete a postdoctoral appointment at Texas A&M University. He spent the bulk of his professional career at Auburn University, where he taught and conducted research from 1975 until his retirement in 2007.

His research focused on inorganic chemistry, particularly compounds with strong metal-metal bonds, as well as crystallography, solving molecular structures using x-ray diffraction data.

“It was fun,” Webb said. “There’s nothing like starting out with a set of measured intensities and all of a sudden you’ve got a picture of a molecule on your monitor.”

Even after retiring, Webb’s curiosity never faded. He has since traveled extensively, completing 30 international trips, with a particular fondness for London and its science museums.

Still, he has maintained close ties to the academic institutions that shaped his career.

Giving back

His connection to his past eventually evolved into a deliberate approach to philanthropy. He began giving to Oregon State while still in graduate school at Iowa State — modest contributions at first, but consistent ones. Over time, his support grew, and in 2007 he established gift annuities to benefit both institutions.

When deciding how to direct his giving, he took a practical approach. During a visit to Corvallis, he asked then-chemistry department chair Kevin Gable where support was most needed. One answer stood out: instrumentation.

“He mentioned instrumentation and I realized that could be hard to raise funds for,” Webb said. “I figured that’s a hole that could be plugged, or I could at least help.”

Like scholarships or research funding, laboratory equipment is essential; however, it is much less glamorous. Instruments must be maintained, repaired and replaced regularly to keep pace with evolving technology and research needs.

“I don’t care whether this is teaching equipment or research equipment,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s buying new equipment or repairing old equipment. As long as it’s equipment.” His goal was simple: Support the tools that make both teaching and discovery possible.

In 2015, the proceeds from his donations were used to purchase a new infrared spectrophotometer for undergraduate teaching labs, the kind of hands-on instrument that allows students to study molecular structure and behavior firsthand.

For Webb, that impact comes full circle. The same curiosity that began on farm calls in rural Oregon — watching, asking questions and trying to understand how things work — is now helping create opportunities for future students to do the same.