POTSDAM -- David G. Nathan, Radovan Stanislav Pejovnik, and George C. Schatz will be awarded honorary degrees at Clarkson University’s 119th commencement on Saturday, May 12.

Each honorary degree recipient will briefly address the students, their families and guests about a topic central to their success in life.

Nathan is the president emeritus of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, physician in chief emeritus at Children’s Hospital Boston, and the Robert A. Stranahan Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Nathan’s contributions include the introduction of effective treatment of iron overload and the only FDA approved drug for prevention of the symptoms of sickle cell anemia. He has trained more than 100 hematologists, many of whom hold leading positions in pediatrics and internal medicine. His text book, titled Hematology of Infancy and Childhood, is the leading text in the field.

Pejovnik is the rector of the University of Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is a professor of materials science and has authored or co-authored more than 200 refereed publications in journals and proceedings, and is co-editor of six books. From 2000 to 2003, he served as state secretary for higher education at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. During these years and afterward he was and is a member of many national and international committees and working groups on the European level, mainly devoted to the Bologna Process and Lisbon Recognition Convention.

Schatz is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. He was born in Watertown, N.Y., and received his bachelor of science degree in Chemistry from Clarkson in 1971. In the field of chemical reaction dynamics, Schatz is one of the pioneers in the application of quantum scattering methods to determine the cross sections and rates of simple gas phase reactions.

With these methods and surfaces, he was involved in early studies of many reactions important in combustion, atmospheric and space chemistry. He recently appeared on the Times Higher Education list of Top 100 Chemists of the Past Decade.

Commencement weekend will also be marked by the commissioning of United States Army and Air Force ROTC cadets on Friday, May 11.