The Robert E. Eakin Endowed Centennial Scholarship was established by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System on June 11, 1982, for the benefit of the College of Natural Sciences. Gift funds were provided by Mrs. Esther Eakin Biesele of Austin, Texas, a 1941 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences. The endowment honors Dr. Robert E. Eakin of Austin, Texas, a 1942 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences.

Robert Edward Eakin was born on January 23, 1916 in La Grande, Oregon, the son of Robert Stowell Eakin, a local attorney, and Netta Kiddle Eakin. His paternal grandfather was the Chief Justice of the Oregon State Supreme Court and his maternal grandfather was an Oregon State Highway Commissioner, but his own career interests were never in the legal or political sphere. When Eakin enrolled in a chemistry master’s degree program at Oregon State College he intended to become a physician. But his thesis advisor, Roger Williams, talked him into postponing medical school in lieu of a chemistry Ph.D. Eakin came to the University of Texas in 1939 as a graduate student when Williams was recruited from Oregon State College to head the newly organized Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute in what was at that time the UT Department of Chemistry within the College of Arts and Sciences. The vitamin and nutrition research he undertook in Williams’ UT lab became his calling rather then clinical work in medicine. After earning his Ph. D. he enrolled in the University of Cincinnati medical school but left after one semester.

Eakin received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1942. He served in research medical facilities for the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the War he returned to the UT Department of Chemistry as a member of its faculty. Over the subsequent thirty years he taught undergraduate and graduate classes in biochemistry, ran a research program in developmental biochemistry in which many UT graduate students were trained, published his research results in scientific journals and books, and helped organize summer programs at UT and other Texas universities for gifted high school students. Eakin married Esther Aline on October 13, 1940. He was a graduate student and Aline was a chemistry undergrad at UT. They raised four sons and their descendants now include six grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Their family members have earned eleven degrees from UT, including four in chemistry and five in other areas of natural sciences.

Robert, Esther, two of his children, and a daughter-in-law have cumulatively provided over a century of service as employees of UT. Though Eakin retired in 1976 he kept an office on campus and remained active in the university community until his death in 1979. Many of Eakin’s graduate students kept in touch with him long after they earned their degrees, sending him Christmas cards and visiting him when they returned to Austin.

Eakin’s eldest son, Tim, who is also a scientist, says his father was a constant mentor and motivator, keeping him on track through high school and college. The elder Eakin helped his son set a strategic plan for his time as a UT undergraduate, helping him select electives and instructors, paving the way for Tim’s acceptance into the competitive graduate program that lead to a rewarding career in science. Tim says of his father: