A Life Prioritizing Education

A side-by-side image showing Frank Ivy Carroll as a young man and in the presentFrank Ivy Carroll ’61 (Ph.D.) has led a celebrated career in chemistry — from starting off as a research chemist at the newly formed RTI International in 1960 to director of RTI’s Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry in 2007.

With over 500 publications and 50 patents to his name, Carroll claims that his greatest achievement is his work with postdoctoral researchers. “Teaching or mentoring the next generation was the best thing I did,” Carroll said. “That really is what I think was my biggest contribution to this world.”

Carroll has served on several professional and scientific boards at Carolina, including the Department of Chemistry Advisory Board and The Graduate School’s Graduate Education Advancement Board. He has been a longtime supporter of Summer Research Fellowships at The Graduate School; fellowships that provide summer financial support to doctoral students so they may focus exclusively on their dissertation research.

“It was a struggle for me to get an education,” Carroll said. “I wanted to help people out so they didn’t have to struggle as much as I did. I wanted to help our next generation of leaders. All of my contributions go to education.”

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