James M. Tour is an American chemist and nanotechnologist, holding multiple professorships at Rice University since 1999. He is the T.
T. and W. F.
Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering. Prior to joining Rice, he spent 11 years on the faculty at the University of South Carolina. Tour earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Syracuse University, his Ph.
D.