Hill earned a degree in chemistry from Brigham Young University (BYU) and went on to earn a doctorate at Cornell University in 1946. In 1951, the University of Utah invited Hill to start the school's Department of Fuels Engineering. From 1966 to 1972, Hill also served as the dean of the College of Mines and Mineral Industries at the University of Utah. In 1972, he was appointed the head of the Office of Coal Research in the United States Department of the Interior. Among other things while in this position Hill oversaw attempts to create plants converting coal into natural gas.[1] His general focus was on trying to find alternative energy sources in the face of rising gas prices.[2] In 1977, he returned to the University of Utah as the Envirotech Professor of Chemical Engineering. Hill published over one hundred papers in academic journals and was the recipient of the Henry H. Storch Award from by the American Chemical Society. He also received an honorary doctorate degree from BYU. Hill was a member of the National Academy of Engineering beginning in 1989.[3]