[1] Hill's doctoral chemistry research began at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where his thesis dissertation was titled "Test of Van't Hoff's Principle of Optical Superposition."

Much of this research here was aimed at improving firefighter foam, used in fire extinguishers, and synthetic rubber manufacturing, which was a large scale industry at the time.

However, Hill grew interested in the business aspect of his products, and started his own company in 1962 called National Polychemicals Inc.

Hill's contributions to this field of science were significant and allowed for the use of fluorocarbons in the manufacturing of rubber polymers and fabrics in industry, due to the strength of their chemical nature.

When he finally became president of the ACS, he mandated employee equality standards into the workplace, which prevented racial discrimination and prejudice, especially seen in chemical manufacturing and research labs.

Hill served on the boards of the American Chemical Society (1971–1978) and Rohm & Haas, and he was a trustee of Johnson C. Smith University.