Background
The eldest of three children, Gillyard was born on February 1, 1941 in Talladega, Alabama to a steel worker anad a nurse
director organic chemist master
The eldest of three children, Gillyard was born on February 1, 1941 in Talladega, Alabama to a steel worker anad a nurse
While in high school, Gillyard became very interested in chemistry. After graduating as valedictorian, she received a bachelor"s degree in chemistry from Talladega College. After graduating from college she realized that she needed more money to pursue higher studies, so she took up a position at the Ohio State University"s nuclear medicine laboratory.
In 1964, she got a job setting up and running a new nuclear medicine laboratory at Nationwide Children"s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
In 1973, she received her master"s degree in organic chemistry at Clark Atlanta University where she researched the chemistry of vitamin B12. She returned to Columbus and worked for the Battelle Memorial Institute, but returned to Atlanta in 1974 after getting married.
In 1977, she began her doctoral degree in organic chemistry at Clark Atlanta University and began teaching chemistry at Spelman College. After receiving her Doctor of Philosophy, she began teaching chemistry full-time at Spelman, where she also became the chair of the chemistry department.
Gillyard"s research focuses on organoarsenic chemistry as well as pollutants and toxins in the environment.
She was the director of National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s Women in Science and Engineering Scholars Program and the codirector of the National Science Foundation"s Research in Chemistry for Minority Scholars Program.
She serves on the Women Chemists Committee and the American Chemical Society"s Scholars Selection Committee and Blue Ribbon Panel for Minority Affairs, and is a member of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.