METU Chemical Engineering Department has been organizing 'Somer Lecture' since 2008, in memory of Tarık Somer, the founder of METU Chemical Engineering  Department  with the great help of Tarık Somer Eğitim Vakfı and valuable faculty members. Each year, valuable scientists from all around the world are visiting METU Chemical Engineering Department in order to give lectures about their area of expertise.

Prof. Dr. Tarık G. Somer is the founder of the department of Chemical Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU), and he is also the initiator of modern chemical engineering education in Turkey.

After getting his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D degrees from RPI, MIT and University of Maryland, respectively, he worked as a research engineer in Dupont Co. between 1954-56. He was appointed as the Professor and the founding chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering at METU in 1957. He had worked as the President of METU and Ankara University between the years 1974-76 and 1982-87, respectively. He also served as the President of Council of Turkish Universities between 1984-85. Being the chief technical advisor in UNESCO, he contributed to the establishment of the university system in Uganda. He also worked in Technische Hochschule Darmstadt as a Visiting Professor. Besides his memberships in a number of professional societies, he was also a member of Union of Presidents of European Universities.

Below, the full list of Somer Lecturers and Somer Lecture Awardees can be seen: