Russell E. Marker (B.S. ’23, M.S. ’24, chemistry) established the Russell E. Marker Lectureship Endowment in 1988. The fund supports the annual Russell Marker Lecture in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland. The lecture focuses on natural products chemistry. Marker was an award-winning chemist who invented the octane rating system for gasoline. He also developed a proprietary chemical process -- known as Marker degradation -- leading to numerous hormone therapies, including the birth control pill