The idea for the Glenn T. Seaborg Lectureship was initiated by Dr. William C. Baird Jr. of the Exxon Baton Rouge Laboratory to bring an internationally renowned inorganic chemist to the Berkeley campus of the University of California. The lectureship offers the selected guest lecturers the opportunity to give lectures on campus for a week and to interact with students and faculty.

The namesake of the lectureship, Glenn Theodore Seaborg, was a chemist and nuclear physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 for his work on the isolation and identification of transuranics. Seaborg was involved in the discovery of various elements such as plutonium, berkelium and fermium, as well as seaborgium, which is named after him.

Prof. DeBeer is very excited about the opportunity to teach at the Berkley Campus.