Former Givens Research Group members (circa 2007)

Richard S. Givens, a University of Kansas faculty member for over forty years, has mentored an international group of dedicated scientists whose interest and love for excited state chemistry has been the core of his research program. Rich is the one who drove the little red Datsun 1600 all over Lawrence for 20 years as he shuttled between his Malott Hall labs and classrooms to Strong Hall and to West Campus facilities flashing his arcane license plate “hnuprof”

Our research interests included photochemistry, physical organic chemistry, phototriggers and photostitches. The discovery of new photoremovable protecting groups for rapid and efficient release of neurotransmitters, nucleotides, oligopeptides, amino acids, and other small molecules continues to be a major thrust of our research program.