Initiated in 1958, the distinguished Reilly Lectureship at Notre Dame is perhaps the oldest continuing endowed lectureship in chemical and biomolecular engineering in the United States.
The lecture series is supported by the Peter C. Reilly Fund, which was established in 1945 in honor of the late Peter C. Reilly, a former University Trustee and recipient of an honorary LLD degree. Each Reilly speaker gives two talks in the lecture series; one for a general audience and a technical talk.
The Reilly Lectures occur annually each spring.
Previous Reilly speakers:
- 2023 Joseph DeSimone, Stanford University
- 2022 Lynden Archer, Cornell University
- 2021 Kristi S. Anseth, University of Colorado – Boulder
- 2020 Benny D. Freeman, University of Texas – Austin
- 2019 Sharon C. Glotzer, University of Michigan
- 2018 Nicholas L. Abbott, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- 2017 Frances H. Arnold, California Institute of Technology
- 2016 Stacey F. Bent, Stanford University
- 2015 Nicholas A. Peppas, University of Texas at Austin
- 2014 Frank S. Bates, University of Minnesota
- 2013 Matthew Tirrell, University of Chicago
- 2012 William F. Banholzer, Dow Chemical Company
- 2011 Carol K. Hall, North Carolina State University
- 2010 William J. Koros, Georgia Institute of Technology
- 2009 J. Michael Ramsey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 2008 Rakesh K. Jain, Harvard Medical School
- 2007 Pablo G. Debenedetti, Princeton University
- 2006 Julio M. Ottino, Northwestern University
- 2005 Larry V. McIntire, Emory University
- 2004 Peter T. Cummings, Vanderbilt University & Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- 2002 Mark E. Davis, California Institute of Technology
- 2001 Sangtae Kim, Lilly Research Laboratories
- 2000 Charles A. Eckert, Georgia Institute of Technology
- 1999 Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1998 Michael L. Shuler, Cornell University
- 1997 Roy Jackson, Princeton University
- 1996 William B. Russel, Princeton University
- 1995 Arthur W. Westerberg, Carnegie Mellon University
- 1994 Alexis T. Bell, University of California, Berkeley
- 1993 Warren E. Stewart, University of Wisconsin
- 1992 L. Gary Leal, University of California at Santa Barbara
- 1991 Howard M. Brenner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1990 Lanny D. Schmidt, University of Minnesota
- 1989 Sheldon Isakoff, E. I. duPont Corp., Wilmington DE
- 1988 Edwin N. Lightfoot, Jr., University of Wisconsin
- 1987 John A. Quinn, University of Pennsylvania
- 1986 Dan Luss, University of Houston
- 1985 William R. Schowalter, Princeton University
- 1984 W. Harmon Ray, University of Wisconsin
- 1983 John H. Seinfeld, California Institute of Technology
- 1982 H. T. Davis, University of Minnesota
- 1981 Cornelius J. Pings, California Institute of Technology
- 1980 Morton M. Denn, University of Delaware
- 1979 Truman S. Storvick, University of Missouri – Columbia
- 1978 Keith E. Gubbins, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- 1977 Vern W. Weekman, Jr., Mobil R&D. Corp., Paulsboro, NJ
- 1976 Eugene E. Petersen, University of California at Berkeley
- 1975 Dale F. Rudd, University of Wisconsin
- 1974 John H. Sinfelt, ESSO Research & Engng. Co., Linden, NJ
- 1974 Arthur B. Metzner, University of Delaware
- 1973 Theodore Vermeulen, University of California at Berkeley
- 1973 James Wei, University of Delaware
- 1973 Leon Lapidus, Princeton University
- 1972 Cedomir M. Sliepcevich, University of Oklahoma
- 1972 Andreas Acrivos, Stanford University
- 1971 L. E. Scriven, University of Minnesota
- 1971 Thomas J. Hanratty, University of Illinois
- 1970 Rutherford Aris, University of Minnesota
- 1969 Hanns Hofmann, University of Erlangen, Germany
- 1969 Giovanni Astarita, University of Naples, Italy
- 1968 Joseph J. Martin, University of Michigan
- 1968 Donald L. Katz, University of Michigan
- 1967 Fritz Fetting, Technical Hochshule, Darmstadt, Germany
- 1967 Hugh M. Hulburt, Northwestern University
- 1966 I. Prigogine, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
- 1966 Charles R. Wilke, University of California at Berkeley
- 1965 Olaf A. Hougen, University of Wisconsin
- 1965 Michael Boudart, Stanford University
- 1964 Raymond F. Baddour, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1964 Robert L. Pigford, University of Delaware
- 1963 Fred Kurata, University of Kansas
- 1963 Stuart W. Churchill, University of Michigan
- 1963 Barnett F. Dodge, Yale University
- 1962 Richard H. Wilhelm, Princeton University
- 1962 Neal R. Amundson, University of Minnesota
- 1961 Paul H. Emmett, Johns Hopkins University
- 1961 H. G. Drickamer, University of Illinois
- 1960 Joseph M. Smith, Northwestern University
- 1960 G. M. Schwab, Phys. Chemistry Inst., University of Munich
- 1960 Wendell C. DeMarcus, University of Kentucky
- 1958 James W. Weswater, University of Illinois