Alumni Speaker Bio – Eric Bigham

Eric Bigham

B.S., Chemistry, NC State

Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, Princeton

Dr. Eric C. Bigham received his PhD in organic chemistry from Princeton University in 1975 and his BS in Chemistry from NC State University in 1969. Eric spent his entire career working in the pharmaceutical industry, holding positions in medicinal chemistry, cheminformatics, and computational chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline, GlaxoWellcome, Burroughs Wellcome, and Pfizer.  In 2008-2010, Eric served as a general chemistry instructor at NC State.  In 2001, Eric was selected as the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, NC State University. He served the North Carolina Section of the American Chemical Society for many years in several capacities including chair and councilor, and he worked as a member of the organizing committee for the Southeast Regional ACS Meeting.  Dr. Bigham received the Marcus E. Hobbs Service Award from the NC Section of the ACS in 1991.  At the national level, Eric was a councilor for more than 15 years, where he served on the Membership Affairs Committee (chair) and Council Policy Committee.  In 2005-2010, Eric was a member of the ACS Board of Directors.  He served as a member of the Board Committee on Professional and Member Relations (chair), and he chaired the Board Committee on Grants and Awards and co-chaired the Board Oversight Group for Leadership Development. Currently, Eric is retired and volunteers at the UNC Cancer Center in Chapel Hill, and the Beaufort Historic Site in Beaufort, NC.