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CHE Department History - Remembrances of a
Few Past Professors
Robert B. Bennett
Ph.D., 1936, Purdue University
If there were prizes given for the most energetic and the
most resourceful professor on campus, Bob Bennett would have walked away with
them. He was often seen bounding up the stairs of the CHE building, two at a
time from the bottom to the top floor. He didn't believe in wasting time. And
when it came to taking old equipment in the lab and making it work, no one was
his equal. But even Bob was stretched to the limit when he took a two-year
assignment teaching in Algeria where he found a lab with nothing in
it—everything had to be improvised. It was Bob's finest hour.
Bob was an early graduate of our Department, having received his B.S. in 1931
and his Ph.D. from Purdue in 1936.
He had industrial experience from 1936-1953 working on resins, rubbers, and
plastics for several companies, including the Firestone Rubber Co. He joined the
Department in 1953, teaching and doing research on Florida products such as
natural sponges, Spanish moss, and phosphate waste.
Bennett was always popular with the students, whether at UF,
Algeria, or Brazil where he also taught. He set up a molding press for the
engineer's fair one year, turning out souvenir plastic pieces shaped as
alligators and others as medals with the Engineering College logo, both
extremely popular with the crowd. He also served as business manager for the
international journal, Chemical Engineering Education, which was housed
in the CHE building.
At the age of 70, after almost 28 years in the Department,
Bob retired, but he never slowed. He invented a plastic, solar swimming pool
cover that kept trash out of the pool but accepted and retained solar energy. He
also sold energy-saving Mylar window coverings. His hobby was polishing mineral
specimens and he was an early member of Habitat for Humanity, building houses
for Gainesville's poor. He didn't believe in letting any grass grow under his
feet and often said, "You really need stress in your life. Keeping busy is the
way to keep going." He kept going until the age of 84.
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