Robert E. Boyer (1929-2026)

Professor Emeritus Robert E. Boyer passed away on March 18, 2026 at the age of 96.

After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, Boyer joined the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin as an instructor in 1957. At UT Austin, he was promoted to associate professor, and then full professor in 1967.

Throughout the 1970s, Boyer served as chairman of the department and director of the Geology Foundation. He is an honorary life member of the Geology Foundation Advisory Council.

In 1980, he was asked to serve as dean of the College of Natural Sciences. He accepted and served 14 years, a period of remarkable growth and accomplishment in the college.

Boyer and a group of faculty established both the Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, a precursor to many award-winning centers and institutes for STEM education based at UT Austin, and the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, which evolved into the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Graduate Program.

His efforts helped The University of Texas at Austin build one of the most competitive science programs in the nation. And his fundraising goals for the college’s 20th anniversary in the 1990-1991 academic year brought in approximately $27 million.

Up until his death, Boyer held the Peter T. Flawn Centennial Chair Emeritus in Geological Sciences at the Jackson School.