Volume 10 January 1996 No. 1
Publisher: Department of Chemistry Alistair J. Lees, Professor and Chair Editor: Clifford E. Myers, Professor Emeritus Honorary Editor: Annie Cron, Department Secretary Emerita Mailing Address: Department of Chemistry Binghamton University (SUNY) P.O. Box 6000 Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 Telephone: (607) 777-2517 Department Office (607) 777-2229 Editor FAX: (607) 777-4478 E-Mail: cmyers@binghamton.edu
This issue if the CHEMISTRY NEWSLETTER is dedicated to Annie Cron who retired last spring after more than 30 years of service to Harpur College and Binghamton University-SUNY. Annie had been the "senior member" of the Department for the past several years; the last active faculty member who predated her original appointment was Bruce McDuffie. Max Hull had hired her during his time as Division Chair. She served as secretary for two Division Chairs and at least ten Department Chairs. She was an authority on the details of academic regulations applying to both undergraduate and graduate students. We had hoped to interview her for this issue, but her health is such that it was not possible. Mail for Annie can be sent to the Department and will be forwarded.
Annie, we miss you! CEM
I hope you much enjoy this interesting issue of the Chemistry Newsletter, and I thank Cliff Myers for his editorial skills. On reading, you will no doubt see that there have been a number of personnel changes in the department, some enforced by retirements. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to both Annie Cron and Roger Dutcher, who have served the department well over many years. Although Cliff Myers has also formally taken retirement, he is currently teaching half-time and continues to have an active research laboratory. I would like to acknowledge here his many accomplishments and contributions to the department.
This is my second period as Chair and many of the challenges are familiar. In overviewing the department, I remain extremely enthusiastic and positive about the future. Many of our problems are the type you would wish to have! For instance, one of the major challenges is how to accommodate the remarkable increases in our undergraduate enrollments. Our General Chemistry course (Chem 107/108) now has up to 650 students each semester, about double the number in the late 1980's. And similar percentage increases are now being reflected in our other classes. This is a difficult problem for the department to deal with because our resources have not gone up concomitantly, but it's a much better situation than an enrollment decline. Interestingly, over the past few years the University enrollment has not increased substantially, so there has been a rather dramatic switch of student interest into science and associated disciplines.
The research in the department continues to develop with grants and publications at an all-time high. The current graduate students are enthusiastic and committed. We have many reasons to be positive about the future and are looking forward to our new analytical hire, Dr. O. Sadik, joining us this fall and to several additional appointments over the next several years. AJL
Enrollments in undergraduate courses continue to grow, and, in addition, renovations on the ground floor of the chemistry wing have reduced the number of laboratory rooms available. Adjustments are being made in the General Chemistry Laboratory Program to deal with the problem. Beginning next fall Chemistry 101 and 107 will have an integrated laboratory program (lab sections will remain specific for each course), and the daily schedule will be adjusted so that there will be three laboratory periods each day, Monday through Thursday. In addition, Friday labs will be introduced, and there will be an increase in the number of students per lab in Chem. 111 and a rescheduling of Chem. 235 labs to an earlier time in the afternoon.
On another note, the Chemistry Club won Honorable Mention for its activities as an ACS Student Affiliates Chapter during the 1994-95 academic year. Rachel Coledangelo is President and Mike Starzak is faculty advisor.
Rick Hartwick has resigned from the faculty in order to pursue business interests in Norwich; he is continuing his association with the department as an adjunct faculty member. Tae Oh has joined the faculty of California State University at Northridge. Both Udo Brinker and Jim Dix are on sabbatical leave this year. Udo will spend much of his time in Europe; Jim is at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Wayne Jones has a Dean's Research Semester this spring. Cliff Myers accepted the state's retirement incentive this summer, but will be carrying a full-time teaching load for one semester in each of the next two years and continuing his research in high temperature materials chemistry.
Janice Musfeldt is the newest member of our faculty. She joined us in January 1995 from a postdoctoral position in physics at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada. Jan has a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana and a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Florida. She specializes in spectroscopic studies of magnetically driven phase transitions in organic and inorganic solids. While her lab is gearing up at Binghamton, she is actively pursuing her measurements at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. Omowunmi Sadik will be joining the faculty in September. She is a native of Nigeria and completed her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Wollongong University in Australia. Dr. Sadik comes to us from a postdoctoral position with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in Las Vegas.
Max Hull and his wife Dorean have sold their house in Binghamton and have moved to be near their daughter in New Jersey. Their address: c/o Dr. Margaret Hull, P.O. Box 265, Pomona NJ 08240.
Annie Cron, who is Honorary Editor of this issue, also accepted the state's retirement incentive in the late spring. Patty Gorman has been named to fill Annie's position; she was formerly in Student Services. Back in the spring Martha Gahring joined the staff as a replacement for Ellen Mooney. Roger Dutcher who managed Science Stores was another of the retirees. His replacement is Linda Schaeffer who moved over from the Payroll Office.
The Institute for Materials Research has been awarded a grant of $815,000 by the National Science Foundation to renovate research labs on the ground floor of the chemistry and physics wings for faculty research and research training. It will also bring a liquid helium capability into the building again. This will allow the department to perform stateofthe art materials chemistry and physics research with new hoods, heating and airconditioning systems. It will also renovate a lab to allow us to train undergraduate and graduate students in modern inorganic and materials laboratory techniques. This lab will house the equipment we have successfully obtained through NSFILI awards. The renovation is beginning now and is expected to be completed in 1997. Stan Whittingham, Director of the Materials Institute, is project director for this renovation.
Spearheaded by Dave Doetschman, the Chemistry Deaprtment and Materials Research Center recently won support from the Academic Infrastructure Program of NSF for the purchase of a Fourier Transform Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (FT-EPR) instrument and establishment of an NSF Regional FT-EPR Facility. There are eight participating chemistry faculty and sixteen outside participants, from the Physics Department, from the northeastern region of the U.S, and from Canada. The award of $481,450 includes two years' support for a research associate to assist in launching research at the center. The SUNY Graduate and Research Initiative is providing $339,482 in matching funds.
Dave Doetschman will head this Regional Facility. It will be housed in the recently renovated basement area (B-2, formerly Keith Innes' spectroscopy lab). Office space in the lab will accommodate as many as ten visiting scientists. The Bruker FT-EPR instrument proposed for purchase will be one of only about 15 such state-of-the-art instruments in the western hemisphere. Wayne Jones is coordinating the operation of the Chemistry Department's pulsed Nd-YAG and excimer lasers with the FT-EPR instrument. The combined EPR-photochemistry capabilities will make the Center, expected to open in the fall of 1996, a truly unique facility.
A wide range of scientific problems will be addressed by the participants, which span the fields of chemistry, physics, biophysics, geology, and archeology (EPR age dating). Typical projects are those of some former students of the Chemistry Department who are participants in the Center. Dave Dwyer (PhD '91) and now in the Chemistry Department of SUNY-Brockport plans studies of short-lived organic intermediates, Devkumar Mustafi (PhD '85) of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago will examine vanadyl ion bound to a renal stone inhibiting enzyme, and Steve Utterback (PhD '81) of the Chemistry departments of Columbia University and Hostos Community College will study molecular motions in Solids.
The Regional Center would be especially interested in addressing scientific problems with former BU-SUNY graduate and undergraduate students in chemistry.
Our department, like all other chemistry departments across the country, finds itself in need of additional resources. Funds from the state are limited in amount and are fenced in by numerous regulations. Research grants from external sources make possible the vitality of individual laboratory efforts but necessarily have a circumscribed focus. We have been able to generate some additional support for our undergraduate program by publication of our own lab manuals for the big courses. However, we still have needs which you can help us meet. These include:
Your gifts should be to the Binghamton University Foundation, Account #785 (for programs in the Chemistry Department).
For a period of six weeks this past summer we again had twenty 11th graders participating in our NSF-funded Young Scholars Research Program (YSRP). Udo Brinker was project director with planning and day-to-day operation being handled by Richard Quest and Carole Kull. Highlights included an interactive program at IBM Microelectronics in Endicott, academic/career planning seminars, a reorganized residential program with numerous daily and weekend activities, extensive local television and newspaper coverage, and a site visit by Dr. Julia Clark from NSF.
Thanks to all of you who responded to our request for personal and professional news.
Louise Grossman Adler (BA '62) works at MCI as manager of software development. Her son Charles has a PhD in physics from Brown and is a professor at Cleveland State University; her son Daniel has a masters in statistics and electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon and is a mortgage banker in North Carolina. Her address: 14 Sandra Lane, Manitou Springs, CO 80829.
Paul H. Weisshaar (BS '67) has had an Ob/Gyn practice in Burke, VA, since 1978. He and Paula Sanderman were married in 1967. Paula earned her MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1991. Son David graduated from Brandeis in 1993, and daughter Deborah graduated from Brown in 1995. His address: 3441 Round Table Ct., Annandale, VA 22003.
Allen Rosenthal (BS '72) finished his DDS at Temple in 1976, spent three years in the Air Force. He started his dental practice in 1980 in Sunrise, FL. He has been a member of MENSA since 1986. He and his wife Sally were married in 1988. They have three children - Emily (16), Eric (4), and Cameron (2). Their address: 5931 NW 61st Manor, Parkland, FL 33067.
Ethan D. Nydorf (BA '74) went to medical school at NYU and on to a residency in dermatology at Yale. He was an Assistant Professor at the Yale Medical School from 1983-86, and is currently Chief of Dermatology at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester, MA. He is married to Jayne S. Weiss, MD, and they have a daughter Alana Weiss Nydorf who, at age 15 months, was just learning to count. Their address: 8 Hill Street, Shrewsbury, MA 01545.
Jason Surow (BA '78) went to the University of Pennsylvania for medical school and stayed on for a residency in otolaryngology - head and neck surgery. He is now in private pracitce in Bergen County, NJ. He and his wife Melissa have a daughter Julia, age 9, who is a budding soccer star. Jason wonders whether Dan Konowalow still has a beard [yes, CEM] and wears clogs [?, CEM]. Jason also tells us that Bob Turchin (BA '78) went to dental school at the University of Pennsylvania, lives in Cherry Hill, NJ, and has a practice in Philadelphia. Jason's address: 189 Park St. Montclair, NJ 07042.
Anthony D. Udo-Inyang (BS '78) obtained his MD at Howard University in 1982, did a residency in Ob/Gyn at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, 1982-86, and is now a Senior Staff Physician there. He and his wife Regina were married in 1982 and have 3 children: Ini (12), Imo (8), and Ime (4). Anthony is a member of several medical societies, including the American College of Gynocologists of which he is a Fellow. He has been involved in sending reuseable medical supplies to African nations. His address: 6 Lakeside Ct., Grosse Pointe, MI 48230.
Ian S. Foster (BA '79) is Board Certified in family practice and is President ofShawnee Medical Group, PC, in E. Stroudsburg, PA. He is Secretary/Treasurer of Medical Staff at the Pocono Medical Center, a Board Member of Pocono FPA, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Monroe County Medical Society. He is, in his own words, "married to a wonderful person and have a delightful, rambunctious 3-year-old boy. We love where we live - 1 block from the Appalachian Trail." Ian asked about Joseph Knee (BA '79). Joe is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Joe did his PhD in physical chemistry at SUNY-Stony Brook in 1983. Back to Ian, his address: P.O. Box 257, Delaware Watergap, PA 18327; telephone: (714)424-0402.
Alan G. Weintraub (BA '79) is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine at the Marcus Center for Developmental Disabilities. He is married to Louise Paulin Weintraub (BA '79, English), and thay have 3 children: Philip (11),Rachel (8), and Samuel (5). Alan's address: 4469 Marchbolt CT., Norcross, GA 30092.
Behjamin A. Belinka, Jr. (PhD '81) is still employed at Cytogen Corporation in Princeton, NJ, where he was recently promoted to Assistant Director of Preclinical Research. His address:15 Pelham Rd., Kendall Park, NJ 08824.
Charles Nicholson (BS '81) is in Analytical Research and Development at the Central Research Division of Pfizer, Inc., in Groton, CT.
Arthur J. Clarke (BA '82) received his law degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law. After four years as an environmental attorney working for a large New Jersey law firm, he recently joined Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation as Regulatory Affairs Manager working on remediation projects. He and his wife Sue (as of Nov. '94) were expecting their first child in April of '95. (Keep us posted!) Address: 734 Washington St., Hoboken, NJ 07030.
Sarah G. Finnegan (BA '84) received her PhD inNeuroscience from the Department of Physiology at the University of Buffalo (SUNY) in 1992 and completed her MD degree in 1994. She is currently working as a medical resident in neurology at Buffalo. Address: 19 Robie St., Buffalo, NY 142214.
Elizabeth Miller Roesel (BS '84) completed her JD at Duke in 1987 and is an associate with the law frim of Kirkland and Ellis in Washington, DC. She is specializing in patent, trademark, and copyright law. Her husband Tom is a physician-fellow in hematology at Georgetown University hospital. Their first child, Erica Corinne, was born June 6, 1994. Their address: 2733 Pembsly Dr., Vienna, VA 22181.
Joseph A. Piccari (BS '84) joined Allied-Signal in 1985 and continues to work there in New Business Development. The majority of his work is in separations technology - specifically in exchange membranes, bipolar membranes, electrodyalitic separations technology. He finished his MBA in Technology Management/Strategic Planning at Rutgers in December of 1994. His best influences at SUNY-B: Prof. Dix for an appreciation of the sciences and the interdependence of biochemistry, physics, and math; Prof. McDuffie for application of analytical chemistry. He says he continues to play guitar - more than ever! His address: 32 Minton Ave., Chatham, NJ 07928.
Bruce Kava (BA '85) graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1989 with an MD degree and was installed in Alpha Omega Alpha in 1988. He completed his residency in urology at the New York University Medical Center in 1995 and accepted a fellowship in urological oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 1995-1997. He married Allison Judith Stupak in 1990, and they have a son, Samuel Franklin Kava, born on June 14, 1994. Their address: 130 East 18th St., New York, NY 10003.
Richard M. Kolodziej (BA '85) has been Senior Group Leader at Lever Brothers Co. (a subsidiary of Unilever) sinece 1993. He is responsible for new product formulations in the personal cleansing category un der the brand names: Dove, Caress, Lever 2000, ... He completed his PhD in inorganic chemistry at MIT in 1989, was with Colgate-Palmolive 1989-92 and Firncuich (?)(Rick, I can't read your writing.) 1992-93. He's still single and would love to hear from his old chemistry friends. His address: 770 Anderson Ave., Apt. 9P, Cliffside, NJ 07010.
Richard G. Lucarelli (BA '85) received his medical degree from UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine and completed a family medicine residency at Spartanburg Regional. He is currently in practice in Spartanburg, SC. He was married in December of 1994. He recently visited BU for the first time in nine years and bought enough alumni material to keep the bookstore in business forever. His address: 142 Westworth Dr. Moore, SC 29369. Telephone: (803) 595-1764.
Kathleen Eddy Trojan (BS '87) completed her PhD in inorganic chemistry in February, 1992, at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is currently Research Chemist III at Hoechst Celanese in Charlotte, NC. She married Joseph M. Trojan in June 1987, and their son, Matthew, was born in April, 1992. A secon baby was due in January, 1995 (keep us posted!).
Karen M. Mattia (BS '87) was awarded her MS in 1989 and PhD in 1993 in organic chemistry, both from Cornell. She is currently an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in bioorganic chemistry at Penn State, working with Dr. Stephen Bankovic. Her address: 248 Toftnees Ave., Apt. 308, State College, PA 16803.
Valerie Uzcategui (MS '91) has accepted a position as Acquisitions Editor for R. G. Landes Co., a medical/biomedical publishing company in Georgetown, TX. Her address: 30103 Augusta Ct., Georgetown, TX 78628.
Margaret Kolodziejczyk (BS '92) received her MS in epidemiology from the University of Virginia in May, 1994, and is currently working on her PhD in nutritional epidemiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Public Health. Her address: 1800 Williamsburg Rd., Apt. 49E, Durham, NC 27707 (School); 527A Humboldt St., Brooklyn, NY 11222 (home).
Lynn Manzella (BS '93) is a graduate PhD student in chemistry at Princeton. Her research, in general, involves ultra-high vacuum surface science. Specifically, she is studying surface induced dissociation (SID). She recently got engaged to Eddie Phelan, and they are planning to be married in March of 1996. She tells us that Paul Russo is currently at UVA pursuing his PhD in chemistry (Hey Paul, how about some e-mail?). Her address: 1 N. Hibben Apts., Faculty Rd. Princeton, NJ 08540.
Paul Russo (BS '93) is indeed a PhD graduate student at the University of Virginia doing analytical biochemistry-protein sequencing using mass spectrometry. He says he is doing well and having fun. He tells us that Lynn Manzella is at Princeton and that Amy Pyluck is working on her PhD in organic chemistry at Stony Brook.
Terri Pasko (BS '93) is a chemist in analytical technical support at Schein Pharmaceutical working in method development-robotics. She notes that, as of her writing, Schein was hiring analytical junior chemists. For more information call her at (914) 767-2198. Her address: 53 Prospect St., Apt. 606, Stamford, CT 06901.
Edwin Oh (BS '94) is in his second year at Albany Law School and is pursuing patent law. His address: 71-29 Sutton Pl., Fresh Meadow, NY 11365.
Stanley K. Madan joined the faculty of Harpur College in 1960. A native of Lahore in the part of India which became Pakistan, he earned a B.Sc. from Forman Christian College, an M.Sc. in psychology and an M.Sc. in chemistry from Punjab University, and then an M.S. and Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Illinois. During his tenure as an active member of the faculty, Professor Madan was research advisor for ten masters and four doctoral students in addition to a number of undergraduates. He and his wife Carol were married in 1958. Their son John, who still lives in the area, was born in 1964. Professor Madan retired in 1988,but continued teaching on a part-time basis until 1992. His address: 508 Pickwick Drive, Vestal, NY 13850. This interview was taped in Professor Madan's office on campus on Decmber 13, 1995.
CEM: Stan, why don't you tell us where you were born and grew up?
SKM: I was born in Lahore, then India, part of the British Empire. So I was born as Indian rather than as a Pakistani. In 1947 the country was divided, and my family decided to stay in Lahore where my brothers and sisters and I were all born. I had to make a decision as to whether I wanted to be in India or in Pakistan. At the time I was employed with the Punjab Irrigation Research Institute as a research assistant. I was in a part of the country that became India by the laws of partition. I opted to come back to Lahore because I thought that probably the family would stay there, but I wasn't sure. At that time we were going through the problem of division of the country. I came back from India to see if they were all settled and if they were going to move to India or decide to stay in Pakistan. So my parents decided they would stay in Pakistan. I was then faced with the decision of whether to transfer my citizenship. I was able to make that transfer to come to Lahore and be a part of the family.
CEM: Tell me a bit about your family.
SKM: Well, my father was an MD. My mother and father had ten children; we are nine living at the present time. One sister died at age three; eight are back in Pakistan. Among them, I have two sisters that are MDs and two sisters that are professors. One of the sisters, now retired, was a professor of botany. Another is a professor of zoology and is Vice Principal of the Lahore College for Women. Three of my sisters are retired, but are still making their contributions to the institutions and to the professions, even in retirement. I have four brothers, three of whom are chemists. One of them got his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Brown University and did two postdoctoral stints, one at the University of California at Berkeley and another at Cornell. Another brother has his own industry; a third is employed by Hercules, a division of a U.S. company. The youngest brother is a colonel in the Pakistan army. Two brothers are married; all the sisters are wedded to their professions, as are the two brothers who are not married.
CEM: How did you happen to come to the United States?
SKM: After leaving the Punjab Irrigation Research Institute, which was a stop gap position after my B.Sc., I worked in a Hydraulic Model River Training Program three years. I always knew it was a dead end, and, since I always had a feeling that I could make a contribution in teaching, I quit that in 1948 and went to Forman Christian College where I taught physics. Along with my physics teaching, I went for a Masters Degree in Psychology hoping that I would be able to teach physics and psychology. After having finished my Masters Degree in Psychology, I became a professor in the Psychology Department. Apparently the college had decided that they couldn't afford to maintain the program. The senior person was retiring and, in the squeeze, the Psychology Department was being cut. I knew I had to do something, so I transferred to the Chemistry Department and got a masters degree in Chemistry. When I had seven years added up, so I applied for a sabbatical. That was possible since Forman was a missionary college, U. S. Presbyterian and Methodist sponsored. I was able to get leave and I started applying to come to the United States. I applied to the University of Illinois, Columbia University, and Purdue, and was accepted in all three institutions, but I was again making the decision where to go. A colleague there at the Forman Christian College who knew Professor Bailar (since he was an Illinois graduate), suggested to me that Ilinois might be the best place to go and so I made that decision. Furthermore, I think Illinois had a very elegant way of getting my papers ready so I could get my visa and things which came through very expeditiously. I came in August of 1955 which is just a little over 40 years ago. In my original plans, I was coming for just a year and during that time I decided to do a little research for Professor Bailar, and he urged me to stay on. I said I did not have any money since I had come on my own arrangement, and I had an obligation to go back. By this time I had finished another masters in teaching chemistry. He urged me to stay on, and he said money was no problem. The second year I received a Socony-Mobil Fellowship, and after that I started the Ph.D. program. Since I had taught 7 years at Forman, I asked Professor Bailar if he could get me into the teaching side of it, and I started teaching. That would be my third year, and I finished in 1959. Dr. Bailar said, "I'd like you to stay, your mother may not like this, but we want you to stay." He started giving me suggestions about letters I should write to apply for a position. I wrote to six places, and out of six I had four offers. That happened very fast in March of 1960, and I arranged a trip to all the places. I started from Whittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Then I went to Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan, and Harpur College at Binghamton. Then I wrote to these people that I'd like to make a decision by March 7 as I had other offers. Max Hull very kindly sent me an offer immediately so I again had a difficult decision to make. I think Professor Bailar spent about two hours with me trying to help me make a decision, but he said, "I'm not going to decide for you. This is something you will have to decide yourself."
CEM: You had another reason for wanting to stay in America.
SKM: Yes, there was the most important one that on June 7, 1958 I was married to my wife, Carol. Before we got married I promised her and her parents that I would not be going back to Pakistan. I made that clear to her parents, so that was another big reason. My having made the choice to come to Harpur College was a very happy decision, and I cannot say that I have any complaints. I have been a very happy person and I have done the best I can.
CEM: When you came, was Chemistry still over in Endicott?
SKM: Yes, the Chemistry Department (in fact, all the sciences) were in Endicott. The laboratories were taught in Endicott, and classes met on the new campus. The students had to shuttle by bus; I shuttled on my own. It was interesting because there were only two lab rooms, general chemistry and organic. I remember that when I started my research program I had to clean up the little spot I had in one of the labs to do my experiments, so that the classes could be met. We were there for at least half a year, but we moved to the new facility in the spring semester of 1961. Since the facilities for doing research were rather limited at that time of the history of the department, I decided to apply for NSF Fellowships for summer research at various universities. I was fortunate enough to receive offers from the University of Tennessee and worked thirtenn weeks during the summer of 1961 and repeated the program in 1962. By 1963 research facilities were more readily available here, so there was no .longer a need to go somewhere else.
CEM: How many people were in the Chemistry Department at that time?
SKM: I was the sixth person hired, the first in Inorganic Chemistry. I participated in General Chemistry teaching, which at that time was taught in sections. We had six or eight sections. I had three, McDuffie had one, and Martin Paul had one, so we had to work together to coordinate things.
CEM: Who was on the faculty in Chemistry then?SKM: Professors Hull, McDuffie, Berman, Paul, and Mueller. In 1962 Bruce Norcross was hired and that would be the seventh and in 1963 Professors Myers, Schrier, Gerry Clement, which made a total of 10 faculty. I think soon after that it was Verbit, Gil Janauer, and Konowalow; so we added three more.
CEM: When you came, since there had not been a person with a background specifically in Inorganic Chemistry on the faculty, there was no course in Inorganic Chemistry.
SKM: That's true; I think I gave the first inorganic course.
CEM: When did that start?
SKM: That started in 1961. I taught it along with my General Chemistry responsibility.
CEM: That's the course that has carried through. It was Chem. 241 for a while; it's now Chem. 341 which I'm teaching this current semester. You also began a course in Inorganic Synthesis.
SKM: That was started in 1962.
CEM: That was on the new campus.
SKM: That was the first time it was offered.
CEM: Tell me about some of those students you had in those early times.
SKM: I had Jim Condon who got his Ph.D. at Iowa State. Another was Don McBride, who is still in the area; he received an Inventor's Award while at IBM. There was another interesting fellow who went into teaching, Fred Kundell. He went to some college in Maryland; I think he is in Inorganic Chemistry. He got a Ph.D., I'm not sure where, but we were in touch. He built parts for magnetic susceptibility apparatus. He was a good carpenter.
CEM: Another of your undergraduate research students was interested in magnetism.
SKM: I think the one who built the newer model, which was a Faraday method model, was John Sturr, a graduate student. Bill Reiff did mostly kinetics. At the time he was an undergraduate, he interacted with John Sturr. That was the time he got interested in magnetic work. He went on to do his Ph.D. in Syracuse. There were many other students from that synthesis course who went to Syracuse at the same time, 1964. Along with Bill, I remember some names like Karen Korhummel, Ed Caine who went into teaching. I think Karen is with Kodak, is now married and has two children. Her husband is also with Kodak. And there was one other whose name I am not sure of, probably Bob Garland. We sent four students that year.
CEM: Wayne Anderson was about the same time.
SKM: Yes. He did undergraduate research with me. He went on to the University of Illinois and got his Ph.D. with Ted Brown and has been in the teaching profession ever since. He is presently at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, and has served two stints as Department Chair.
CEM: And Bill Reiff?
SKM: Bill is at Northeastern University in Boston [He is Department Chair. (CEM)]. He is a very interesting fellow. He started out with one paper that we published together here, and he has never stopped. He has had very interesting collaborations with MIT, and that again is in the magnetic area in which he is an expert.
CEM: You were certainly heavily involved in getting the graduate program started here.
SKM: I think there were many of us. Max Hull, McDuffie, Professor Paul, they were all involved. I must say most of the early work was done by Max Hall in designing the rules and methods and whatnot, the aims and goals of it. We began a part-time masters program in 1962, and then in 1966 we started the Ph.D. program.
CEM: Who was your first graduate student?
SKM: The first Ph.D. student was Warren Miller.
CEM: What about the student who went to Syracuse. Ann Donahue?
SKM: She did her masters and went into teaching also.
CEM: She was at Onondaga Community College.
SKM: Warren Miller, after a postdoctoral stint with Vaska at Clarkson, went to work with AGMAT in Hazelton, PA, which didn't last long as the company folded, but finally he got a nice position at Englehardt and then went to SPEX. From SPEX he decided to open up his own business. That's as of 1988; I have not heard from him lately. He was a very interesting fellow by the way. He had all kinds of mineral collections. He had a great hobby in them. He took his show to various places which I hope he still is doing.
CEM: He impressed me. There are people who can go into the lab and things work for them and there are other people who can go into the lab and they work just as hard, and things don't work for them. He was one of the first kind. He could make things in the lab.
SKM: He was amazing. He was helpful in developing the program, because he discovered certain things I didn't think of when we started some of the kinetic work. Of course, it was not only him, but other graduate students like Sybil Zipp. My last graduate student, Mike Saliby, was very remarkable. He did some of the best work in our lab, and we published four papers which were all in Inorganic Chemistry. He is now a professor at the University of New Haven.
CEM: I certainly remember him as a graduate teaching assistant, one of the very best we had.
SKM: My fourth Ph.D. student was King Wen Kuo.They all did well and went on with their lives.
CEM: I remember all those folks.
CEM: This first inorganic course wasn't the only course you developed and the synthesis course. You went on to develop other courses too.
SKM: In 1967, I think it was, I started teaching the group theory course which at the time was Chem. 242 (a sequence to Chem. 241). Then we had special topics courses and I taught one in the rare elements; another one was special topics course in non-aqueous solvents. These were sort of off-shoots that I had discovered at the University of Illinois. As time went on I kept up with the literature and was able to offer these course when the need arose in the early years of graduate program.
CEM: Now this course had group theory in it and also had spectroscopic methods as well.
SKM: Right, and quite a bit of spectroscopy related to the kind of research I was carrying on in the synthetic side of my program.
CEM: That course is still very much around.
SKM: Yes, indeed. My other colleagues, Profs. Myers, Lees, and Jones, and former colleagues have all taught it. It's moving on in very different directions with all the other new information that is coming out.
CEM: You also helped developed a unique program in our seminar. You and Larry Verbit did some things together.
SKM: It was Larry's idea. He started out with Junior seminar about which Larry and I wrote a joint paper in the Journal of Chemical Education. It was Larry's suggestion to put in a lot of ideas from reading of various articles by nobel laureates, etc. As we thought about it we changed it to a two-hour seminar course for senior seminar as a requirement, and I think some of the ideas that were developed there were from Howard Alper who was with us for some years. I kept teaching that course right through to my retirement - and even in as a part-timer during the first four years of retirement.
CEM: I think the way in which that course combines all the means of communication, oral, written and poster is very important in students' development.
SKM: I agree that it is very useful for the students particularly in the advent of computer technology. I think the students were quite enthused about it. The poster session provided some hands-on feeling for how to develop a poster and how to present a poster, in addition to suggestions for giving mini-talks and major talks. Writing up their major talks was a part of writing requirement. I think the basic ideas have carried through to the present - even though people do it in their own way, using their own ideas.
CEM: Do you want to talk about your health? [Professor Madan had a very serious heart attack in the summer of 1969. (CEM)]
SKM: I can only say that I've been very fortunate, particularly as my health has been a problem. But I have learned how to live with it for the past 26 years and have tried my best to work efficiently given the circumstances. I want to express my deep gratitude to my colleagues for giving me a lot of support through this period when I was full-time. Particularly my course load, Inorganic Chemistry and Senior Seminar, was such that I could manage through many years to my retirement. I am very grateful.
CEM: What did you learn about how to deal with that kind of problem and live with it that you could pass on to the rest of us?
SKM: I think that that is a very good question, Cliff, and it's something that we all have to remember. It's something to do with discipline. I learned that we are all in the teaching profession which is a discipline. This is a different type of discipline. I learned that I had to get up at a certain time, do my exercises, do my work, finish my classes and then take a little rest in the afternoon. During my rest I read part of the time and part of the time relaxed to refresh myself for the rest of the day. I again have to express my gratitude to the department in waiting until 2:00 p.m. for its meetings on Wednesdays in order to fit into my schedule - an accommodation given to me all through this period. I am very grateful for that.
CEM: How much do you walk every day?
SKM: In the beginning years, I could easily make five or six miles, but, as the years go on, I think I'm now down to about three and a half. I just have found that I can't do that much. But if I don't do it, I miss not having done it.
CEM: It is remarkable that you made the choice not to have radical treatment, taking a conservative position on this, and yet managed to be very fruitful in your professional life. That's very admirable.
SKM: Thank you, Cliff. I couldn't have done it without the support of my colleagues and my dear wife and son to see me through. I feel that I have been very fortunate; I have lived a full life with a little bit more left.
CEM: You've had some friends on campus, outside the department, over the years. Who are some of them?
SKM: My good family friends, Bernard and Marge Mason, who now reside in the Boston area. We came at the same time, same year, and we've been in touch with them. As a matter of fact they are coming this Friday. In the Psychology Department, our very good friends, Bill and Mary Heyman and in the department, Cliff and Marilyn Myers, and John and Joan Eisch. We also enjoy the families of Alistair Lees and Wayne Jones. At this stage I'm trying to do the best for the young ones that have come, Jones and Musfeldt. I continue to enjoy their company and they teach me a lot; we learn from each other. I am fortunate that I have a place to come to. Without this I think I would be rather lost. I feel that I'm trying to be useful as best I can, and along with this I feel very comfortable with almost all the students. Some are on the sixth floor, ground floor and those I meet in the elevators. I learn that at Illinois - from a lot of the professors and colleagues. It was the best time in life to learn and I think I learn a lot from my mentor, Professor Bailar whom I always admired. He left an impression, and that impression I am trying to carry through as best I can.
CEM: John was born in 1964?
SKM: Yes, May 2, 1964. Carol went in on May 1st, which is my birthday. We thought he might be born on May 1st, but it turned out he was born on May 2.
CEM: He still lives in the area?
SKM: Yes. He is an entrepreneur - has his own business. He comes in every day to check up on us - at least he comes and wants to have dinner with us. He's not married; he's busy, busy.
CEM: Do you have any advice you want to give to the young folks?
SKM: We are having some ups and downs at the present time but I have a strong feeling we will come through with flying colors. We've got a great group of people, very compassionate and friendly. I think we have good leadership, and we will continue through the the years.
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Mail to: Chemistry Newsletter c/o Professor C. E. Myers Chemistry Department Binghamton University (SUNY) P. O. Box 6016 Binghamton, NY 13902-6016 FAX: (607) 777-4478 E-Mail: CMYERS@binghamton.edu