CHEMISTRY - Key Persons
served 1997-2008, membrane protein biochemist, Ph.D. U.C. Riverside (Anthony Norman), postdoc Cornell (Efraim Racker) and New York Public Health Research Institute (Harvey Penefsky); also appointment to UCSD. Aileen joined SDSU as an adjunct professor and lecturer after leaving the faculty at Northeastern U., and directed several graduate thesis projects in in membrane proteins/molecular biology here.
served 1939-1961, B.S. '36 UC Berkeley, Ph.D. '39 U. Wisconsin. The department's first physical chemist, the first official Chairman of the department (1946-1949), a Manhattan Project alum, and first Chairman of the San Diego State Faculty Senate, Nichols left San Diego State to become the first President of Sonoma State College. He stepped down from that position in 1970, continuing as a chemistry professor until his retirement in 1976. A classroom building at Sonoma State was named for him that year, and he was named the first President Emeritus by the CSU trustees in 1983. He served as president of the Santa Rosa Symphony Association Board and was active in bringing the Elderhostel program to northern California. He passed away in 2000, but his beneficial influence on the SDSU chemistry department is still resoundingly attested to by his former colleagues. Nichols' description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Professor, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry
Arielle Kanner, Master's Thesis 2016. Chemical Studies of the Remote Asymmetric Vinylogous Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction and its Application Towards the Total Synthesis of Lagunamide A.
served 1958-????; B.S. and M.S. and Ph.D. '39 U. Minnesota (W. M. Sandstrom). Wick "was a distinguished carbohydrate biochemist. He came to us from Scripps Metabolic Clinic with major grant support, and 30+ publications. Robert P. Metzger earned his Ph.D, the first in the Joint Doctoral Program, with Arne as his mentor. Arne was chairman of the department 1964-1967 and headed the Joint Doctoral Committee set up to work out relationships with UCSD." - H. Walba.
Arne Wick was elected a AAAS Fellow in 1965.
served 1950-1951, 1955-1960; B.S. Oregon State U. An analytical chemist, Mosen left the department to join Gulf General Atomics. He returned as a lecturer in 1955, credited as working at Rohr Aircraft in 1950 and then later at General Atomics. Mosen's description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Synthetic Organic, Bio - Organic
Machinist hired to replace Brian Funk when Brian retired. Benno learned machining in his father's medical equipment shop in Germany, and has since added experience in owning shops for cabinetry and bicycle parts manufacture. An avid fisherman and motorcyclist.
Electronics technician. An Air Force veteran whose second career at SDSU spanned 26 years. Bill, along with Larry Rickel, was lost to the College staff in the mid-90's. He knew better than to stick around for long after that, and retired in 2000. Bill passed away in early 2007.
Machinist, pump repairman, and general person-for-every-tough-job from 1970 to his retirement in 2001. Brian learned many of his machining skills on the job, working first with Larry Rickel and then taking over the Chem shop when Larry was moved to the College.
Job Titles:
- Professor and Former Chair, Inorganic, Biochemistry
served 2003-; B.S. UC Santa Barbara, Ph.D. U. Texas. Bioinorganic chemistry and x-ray crystallography. A prominent bioinorganic chemist and x-ray crystyallographer, Carl joined the department as Chair with the hope of directing the expansion of the faculty to its former numbers, but instead had to steer us through the worst state budget in a dozen years. Carl has served as an NSF program officer and was elected a AAAS fellow in 2011.
served 1948-1949, 1954-1955; A.B. '33 SDSC. Lecturer in Chemistry. James is listed in the 1954-55 catalog as a District Chemist for the 11th naval District. James' description in the Robinson History.
served 1922-1923; B.S. '18 U.C. Berkeley. The first chemistry professor to last a year at what would become SDSU. (One professor preceded Iddings but left ignominiously.) Iddings himself left after only a year, according to the September 17 1923 Paper Lantern (predecessor to the Daily Aztec) in order to puruse graduate work at Berkeley. Iddings' description in the Robinson History.
served 1955-1993, biochemist with research interest in CoA. received his B.A. in 1950 from San Diego State College (later SDSU), his ('52) M.S. and Ph.D. ('54) from Oregon State, and did postdoctoral research in Germany. "I had Amby Nichols, Dudley Robinson, Bob Rowe, Bob Isensee, John Spangler, and Lionel Joseph as profs. Hal Walba joined the faculty during my Senior Year. After 4 years at Oregon State and a Fulbright to Germany I returned as a Lecturer, Fall 1955. (A story in itself) The faculty had increased to Amby Nichols, Dudley Robinson, Bob Rowe, Bob Isensee, John Spangler, Lionel Joseph, Hal Walba, Vince Landis, and Neal Harrington. Vince was just completing his degree, Harrington was teaching the Chem 2A, 2B (Chem 100) Lecture and Labs. Vince and I had 4 freshman labs to teach in temporary buildings T22A. or B or T 27, with class size raging from 27 to 36." - C.J. Stewart. A former department Chair (1967-1970), Jack "was admired and appreciated for his creative and considerate scheduling of faculty teaching schedules." - H. Walba. His NIH-funded research focused on mechanisms of enzyme activity, specificaally CoA, and he was awarded a Max Planck Society Fellowship to work in Heidelberg 1979-1980.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Biochemistry
served 1947-1950; B.S. '29 U. Pennsylvania. A licensed chemical engineer, Merzbacher instructed the lower division courses before transferring to the Physical Science Department. His wife Helen was a business skills teacher and later a guidance counselor at several high schools in the area. Merzbacher's description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor, Biochemistry
David Kretchmar's career has spanned over 34 years and includes very diverse experience in science-based topics. He has spent 23 years in academia at universities and community colleges teaching over 4,000 students about chemistry, biochemistry, endocrinology, biology and nutrition in both the classroom and in the laboratory. David also worked in the Biotech and Agriculture industry for over 11 years.
David has a passion for helping students and co-workers learn and understand science by putting very complex concepts into a language that they understand. He believes that anyone can "get science" if given the proper environment and the opportunity to, relate the concepts to the world around them. In addition, David brings the experience and practical knowledge of industry into the learning environment and has incorporated his real-world experience into his classroom. David feels that it is important to stay on top of innovations in the areas that he is teaching as well as in the methods he uses in the classroom. Instead of telling his students to put their cell phones away, he reminds them that they are a reference tool and should be used to look up information. He has put together unique labs were something as simple as writing your name with chalk becomes a lesson on moles. David's teaching philosophy is summed up in a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: "To truly understand something you must be able to explain it to your grandmother." He brings patience and understanding into the classroom to help his students understand the vast amount of information that they are exposed to and help relate it to their own lives. In addition, David is also an entertaining instructor who wears a tie every day to look professional. However, they are cartoon ties and beware of Taz on his ties, it's quiz day.
David received his Ph.D. in Muscle Biology and a Minor in Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota and his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. In addition, He did postdoctoral research at the USDA - MARC facility in Clay Center Nebraska and has 11 publications. He is working on a cook/cooking book with both recipes and scientific tidbits/techniques for the kitchen. He currently teaches at SDSU and occasionally at Southwestern Community College and has taught at University of Wisconsin, Creighton University, Edgewood College, Illinois College, Madison College, and Lincoln Land Community College. He has worked in the laboratories of Protein Design Lab and Pioneer Hybrid.
David keeps all the Department's NMR spectrometers (600 MHz, 500 MHz, and 400 MHz) operating, and assists students and faculty with data acquisition and analysis.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Physical
Research Interests
The emphasis of research in the Pullman lab is on the synthesis, structural and kinetic characterization, and manipulation of metal nanoparticles. Much of our work involves silver nanoparticles, which are now the most commercially prevalent nanoparticles on the market, due to their antimicrobial activity as well as their remarkable optical properties. We are predominantly an experimental group, but when needed, we use an integrated approach in which computational and theoretical studies help in guiding and then interpreting the experiments. Examples of current nanoparticle projects include the:
Catalytic production of silver nanoparticles
Synthesis of chemically stable and photostable silver nanoparticles for application in plasmonic devices
Mechanism of production of citrate-capped silver nanoparticles via reduction of silver ions by NaBH4
Catalysis of chemical reactions on silver nanoparticle surfaces
Tuning of the antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles via surface modification
Kinetics of halide-induced decomposition and aggregation of silver nanoparticles
Adsorption kinetics of amino acids and proteins
served 1994-, A.B. Princeton, M.A., Ph.D. Harvard (Nobel Laureate Dudley Herschbach), postdoc MIT (Silvia Ceyer). Surface scientist. A classic, big-machine physical chemist, Dave inherited the Ring/O'Neal lab in the basement of the old Chem/Geology building as the home for his ultrahigh vacuum system for characterizing desorption processes, and wishes he could have that room back after the mandated move to the new, compartmentalized CSL building.
served 1968-1999; B.S. chemistry Abilene Christian College, B.S. chemical engineering U. Texas, Ph.D. '67 U. Texas (J. Boggs). Research in microwave spectroscopy and molecular structure. DeWitt collaborated with Leo Radom and Brian J. Smith on interpretation of vinyl-X rotational spectra. He served at various times as graduate and undergraduate advisor in the department and was a longstanding instructor in the General Chemistry course. He loved singing and biking, celebrating his 60th birthday with a 60-mile bike tour. Retired in 1999, and passed away in 2001.
served 1990-2022. B.S. Lewis and Clark College, Ph.D. MIT, postdoc U. Delaware. Electrochemist. An extraordinary colleague in all respects, Diane was long-time chair of the department's Curriculum Committee, led an internationally recognized program in electrochemical characterization of hydrogen-bonded complexes, and served as the mainstay instructor of Chem 201, the second semester general chemistry course, for over 20 years. Diane was awarded the Jaroslav Heyrovsky prize for Molecular Electrochemistry by the International Society of Electrochemistry shortly before her untimely death from scleroderma in 2022. Fondly remembered by generations of undergraduate and graduate students.
served 1947-1952, 1960-1961; A.B. SE Missouri State U., M.S. Iowa State U.; Freshman instructor. She married to become Dorothy A. Settle, and returned in 1960 for a single year as SDSU Chemistry's first female Assistant Professor. (Photograph from the 1949 Del Sudoesta yearbook.) Miller's description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus, Organic, Organometallic, Bio - Organometallic Chemistry, Catalysis
served 1997-2023; B.A. Reed College, Ph.D. U.C. Berkeley (Peter Volhardt). Organic and bioinorganic chemistry. Doug joined the department from U. Arizona, and for nearly 20 years directed the Joint Doctoral Program and worked closely with Tom Cole on managing all the department's graduate admissions. Continuously funded by NSF while at SDSU, along with grants from DOE and others, Doug led the department's emergence from hard times in the 1990's to reacquire its present high level of research activity. Doug's brilliant use of heterocyclic ligands on transition metals to mediate hydrogen-transfer reactions led to the development of numerous innovative catalysts for fine chemical synthesis, and offered a unique approach to water-splitting chemistry. Doug was also deeply devoted to the educational mission of the department, committing himself to the success of students in his group. A wonderful colleague in all respects, he leaves a lasting impression on the department and all of us who knew him.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Inorganic, Organic
served 1928-????; B.S. '27 Sugar Engineering Louisiana State U., M.S. '32 U. Iowa, Ph.D. '42 UCLA (Anton Burg). He and Chesney Moe of Physics obtained their Ph.D.'s from UCLA night school while teaching here, pursuing research during summers and week ends. Long-time Chair of the department (1932-1946), WWII Navy veteran, Chairman of the Division of Physical Sciences (like a dean), he also lectured in freshman chemistry and wrote the original Department History. "A rare bird, a true San Diego native, his grandfather was a very early SD mayor." - V. Landis. Robinson's description in his own History.
served 1961-1997, physical organic chemist; B.S. Occidental College, Ph.D. MIT (Herbert House), postdoc U. Illinois (David Curtin). His research was directed towards substituent field effects and nitrones. His postdoc with David Curtin at Illinois narrowly missed Bill Richardson's appearance in the group as a Ph.D. student. Grubbs' research at SDSU was supported by the NSF, NIH, PRF, and IBM.
served 1931-1945. A.B. '27, M.A. '28 Stanford. A pharmacist, he taught quantitative analysis and was renowned for his high standards and occasional eccentricities. For eight years, from the departure of Leo Pierce in 1931 to the arrival of Amby Nichols in 1939, all the courses in Chemistry at San Diego State College were taught by Earl Messner and Dudley Robinson. (Photograph from the 1937 Del Sudoesta yearbook.) Messner's description in the Robinson History.
Assigned to the department in 1961, and a linchpin for over a decade. "After Irene Janeck went to the office of the Division of Physical Sciences with Robinson, we generally had to use the college's secretarial pool. We were able to get her assigned to the department in 1961. She was really our first departmental secretary and a great one." - H. Walba. "Mary [Coleman] and I could tell Earl and Erlene stories till the cows came home. When he was chair, they both smoked up a storm as they shared an office in CG. She was a good old gal. Washingtonian like me. She was from Cowiche by the Tieton reservoir near Yakima... Now that's country! She married Pete, retired navy chief, and they moved to the Ozarks and went fishing." - V. Landis.
served 1939-1940. The first "Assistant in Chemistry," he left for the Navy and rose to Vice Admiral and Commander of the Atlantic Submarine Fleet. Wilkinson's description in the Robinson History, and his entry in Wikipedia.
served 1946-1951, 1963; B.S., M.S. U.C. Berkeley. An extraordinarily dedicated freshman lab instructor. (Photograph from the 1949 Del Sudoesta yearbook.) Schwartz's description in the Robinson History.
Stockroom supervisor. Frank was born in Nebraska, served in WWII and Korea, retiring from military life in 1965 to come to SDSU Chemistry, where he worked until 1982. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 86, preceded just the month before by his wife of 61 years, Vera Verdale Rust. "I think Frank was the last (followed Fischer) of a series of Navy Chief hospital corpsmen in our stockrooms and solutions room. They knew filing, procedures et cetera, and we always had great first aid on hand. He went from freshmen to top dog. Loved square dancing." - V. Landis. "I had the great experience of working along side Frank here at San Diego State in the Chemistry Department. He was a man of great honesty and character. Although nearly thirty-five years older than I, he would run me ragged when I tried to keep up with him. He was missed when he left SDSU and I miss him even more now. While the University makes it clear that none of us are irreplaceable, Frank came close." - K. Long.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor, Agrochemistry
Office manager, joined the department in 2006 and has guided the unruly faculty through all matters RTP, course scheduling, TA scheduling, hiring, and so on ever since. Has kept the ship running smoothly through the Recession, numerous personnel changes, and those random adjustments to forms and procedures that keep our administration so entertained. And keeps us on top of the important things, like staying in touch with our friends and coworkers in the hospital (three of us in two weeks, once!).
Job Titles:
- Gen Chem Storeroom Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Mass Spec Facility Director
Gregory manages our array of HPLC, LC-MS, GC-MS instruments, as well as supporting analytical equipment throughout the Department.
Job Titles:
- Professor, Analytical and Physical
served 1966-1968, physical chemist with a specialty in photochemistry. He was German-born and came to SDSU after a post-doctorate with Prof. Livingston at the University of Minnesota. He committed suicide in the fall of 1968.
Job Titles:
- First Department Secretary
(Oct 5 1928-Apr 17 2014) served 1957-1992; A.B. '50 Wabash College, Ph.D. '54 Michigan State U. (Max Rogers). Physical-inorganic chemistry. Jim Malik taught at U. Minnesota at Duluth and Know College in Illinois before coming to then San Diego State College in 1957. He spent one year at Sonoma State College to establish its chemistry department (see Amby Nichols), and eventually became the SDSU faculty representative to the NCAA. The Jim Malik Award named in his honor recognizes outstanding Scholarship in the SDSU atheletic program. From the 1963 Faculty Register: "Great professor. Excellent lecturer, vitally interested in his students; stimulates them by bringing in outside material for demonstrations... Professor will go out of his way to help students." Malik's obituary in the Union-Tribune.
served 1964-1992; B.A. '51 Harvard, Ph.D. '59 Johns Hopkins (Alsoph Corwin), postdoc U.C. Berkeley (Henry Rapaport). Jim's doctoral work with Corwin was on pyrrole natural products (hemes and chlorophylls), and his postdoc focused on chlorophylls from green sulfur bacteria, anticipating by decades a continuing interest of this department in the chemical activity of aquatic bacteria. Jim headed SDSU's Oceanography program for quite a while. He is a Korean War veteran.
"I remained in the Naval Reserve (as did Clay Sharts) collecting enough credits to retire with benefits. I used the Navy connection to work with the chemical oceanography research group in the navy labs on Point Loma, and got students into the labs and onto research vessels. I worked on mercury in seawater (with Herb Weiss), using satellites to measure productivity in surface waters (with Al Zirino), and other stuff. On some trips we took Walt Jones along. After retirement I worked with Alan McCormack in science education on visual-spatial teaching and learning. My paper describing the problem (Visual-spatial thinking: An aspect of science overlooked by educators, Science Education, 1999) still shows 381 citations as of this evening. In my years in San Diego I rowed on masters crews for Mission Bay Rowing association and The San Diego Rowing Club. My best medal was a national bronze in Georgia. The racing season starts with the San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay March 24 and 25 this year. I also was a crew member on some racing yachts out of San Diego. So I'm hoisting a beer to all you chemists working in the most connected and relevant area in the sciences, mystifying students and pushing out the boundaries of knowledge. Even my doctor is intimidated: "I don't know how that works, but you probably do." I am living in a retirement facility in the redwoods above Santa Cruz on Monterey Bay with my wife Sue, who retired from the Biology Department. Regards to all the superannuated flatulaters that check in." --Jim Mathewson
Job Titles:
- Secretary and Receptionist from about 1995 to 2001
Job Titles:
- Professor, Physical Chemistry / Dean, College of Sciences
Job Titles:
- Professor, Organic Chemistry / Department Chair
Electronics technician. Yet another ex-Navy man, Jerry worked with Bill Hansen until about 1981.
Job Titles:
- Stockroom Supervisor for the Freshman Labs for Many Years
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Biochemistry
served 1957-1963; A.B. SDSC, M.A. and Ph.D. Washington University. Came from the Hanford Works to SDSU and set up our Radiochemistry program. Sheppard was Larry Bennett's undergraduate research advisor on a project in transition metal complex kinetics.
served 1946-????; A.B. '39 and Ph.D. '42 W. Virginia U. (E.C.H. Davies). A WWII and Korean War Navy vet, Spangler chaired the department twice (1952, 1955-1958) and taught analytical and physical chemistry. Spangler's description in the Robinson History.
served 1961-2003; B.A. Wesleyan, Ph.D. '59 Northwestern U. (A. Frost). A physical chemist, John received his Ph.D. under the direction of Arthur Frost, coauthor with Ralph Pearson on a well-known kinetics text. John also served as our long-time coordinator of the freshman chemistry labs before retiring to divide his time between a home in Coronado and a farm in Minnesota.
served ????-, biochemist. Kathy is a scientist in Bill Stumph's lab and a lecturer in the department, heading up the biochem lab course for several years, and now also managing the combined Chem 100/105.
Business Manager. An SDSU alum, Ken has worked as the organic stockroom supervisor as well as the shipping/receiving and budget manager for the department.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Coordinator
Administrative Support Coordinator, i.e. Person Who Really Runs the Department, from 2001 to 2005, who handled the TA assignments and coordinating things with the Dean's and other stratospheric offices so that others could concentrate on teaching students.
served 1970-2000, B.S. '62 SDSU, Ph.D. '65 Stanford (Nobel Laureate Henry Taube), postdoc Columbia U. (Harry Gray, now at CalTech). Inorganic chemist studying transition metal ion redox reaction kinetics. Larry first joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida, where he received NSF support and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. After his stay at the University of Florida, he joined SDSU, where he became a major contributor to the department's lower division courses. He designed Chem 105 in response to a clear need to bring students up to speed before entering the General Chemistry course. Retired in 2000 when the movers refused to relocate the 5-ft. high stacks of paper in his office to the new CSL building (could be true). A true teacher-scholar, a great mentor to struggling students, and an inspiration to his colleagues.
Laura is responsible for financial matters regarding the Department.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Bioanalytical
served 2006-2012, B.S. '94 U. Houston (C. W. Paul Chu), Ph.D. '02 U.C. Berkeley (Jeffrey R. Long), postdoc MIT (Stephen J. Lippard). Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Materials Chemistry. Laurance became our stalwart Chem 200 instructor before leaving to take a position at Point Loma Nazarene University.
NMR Facility Director. LeRoy received his Ph.D. with Reilly Jensen at SDSU, and now runs the 3-spectrometer NMR lab, contributing a great deal to the considerable synthetic work in the Department.
served 1947-1972; B.S. '33 St. Louis U., M.S. '34, Ph.D. i'37 Washington U. An organic chemist and licensed pharmacist, Joseph was one of the first active researchers in the department, working on biochemical projects funded by the Heart Association. Born in Scotland, Joseph returned to the UK upon his retirement, to a suburb of London. "A delightful British accent and philosophy helped us tide many crises. He pronounced 'part' as 'pot' which made some lectures a bit funny." - V. Landis. Department chair from 1952-1955. Joseph's description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Coordinator
Administrative Support Coordinator. A superb organizer and a longtime linchpin of the Department Office.
Job Titles:
- Solutions Storeroom Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Secretary, Moved to Run the Show in Geological Sciences, and Retired from SDSU at the End of 2006
Job Titles:
- Organic Storeroom Supervisor
Mark shares responsibility for support of all the freshman-level laboratory courses, including Chem 100, 102, 200, 201, and 202. Mark also serves as the Department's Property Clerk.
Electronics technician. "Marlin Enders was a genius at coming up with our electronic needs. How he loved to conjure up a gadget for us. As with many technicians in the department, Marlin was a retired Chief Petty Officer." - W. Richardson.
Our much beloved graduate secretary and department archivist, Mary joined the department in 1972 and became its heart for some thirty years before retiring at the end of 2004 after a year in the short-staffed Biology department. Mary would not claim to have actually chaired the department, but evidence would suggest otherwise. Mary passed away in 2010, a loss still keenly felt.
Job Titles:
- Electronics Technician, and a Master at Keeping Legacy Technology on Its Feet. Retired in October 2005
served 1939-1949; A.B. '39 SDSC, M.S. '42 USC. An inorganic chemist and one of the few to keep the department running during the war years, Ross started as a lab assistant in 1939 and rapidly rose to teach the general and organic lectures as well as courses in Physics. He was first listed as faculty in 1944, when he took over teaching duties on behalf of Dudley Robinson who was on military leave and Amby Nichols who was on sabbatical. Ross' description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Secretary to Jim Cobble, for His Work Both at the Graduate Division and in
Undergraduate researcher Molly Hedin in the Cooksy group received an undergraduate research award for her presentation at SDSU's 2024 S3 student symposium. Congratulations, Molly!
served 1962-1995; B.S. UCLA, Ph.D. '60 U. Washington (D. Ritter), postdoc '60-'61 Johns Hopkins. Research in main group inorganic chemistry, particularly silanes. Morey's research pursued the gas-phase synthesis and kinetics of silanes, enjoying a long collaboration with Ed O'Neal in this work and financial support from ARO, NSF, AFOSR, DOE, Xerox, and the California Comptech Program. A former department Chair, and recipient of SDSU's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1985.
served 1948-????; B.S. '39 Monmouth College, additional study at DePaul and Northwestern. Harrington had a Ph.D. in Chemical Education, in case anyone thinks that's a new idea, and he taught and coordinated Chem 2A which later became Chem 100. "His wife, also a veteran, taught business at SDJC (now SDCC). Because the JC's give credit for ANY graduate work, she was paid more than Neil." - V. Landis. From the 1963 Faculty Register: "Takes a personal interest in his students; is willing to help them." Harrington's description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Gen Chem Storeroom Supervisor
Omar runs the stockroom that furnishes materials to all of the lower division laboratory courses including Chem 100, 102, 200, 201, and 202.
Paul Smith, Master's Thesis 2016. Progress Towards an Improved Total Synthesis of Azaspirene, a Powerful Angiogenesis Inhibitor and Copper Catalyzed Conjugate Silyl Additions to Enones.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Biochemistry
Job Titles:
- Professor, Organic Chemistry / JDP Advisor
is the recipient of a recent Faculty Innovation Fellowship! Congratulations, Byron!
Job Titles:
- Served 1953 - 1955 M.a. UCLA. Lecturer in
Job Titles:
- Solutions Storeroom Supervisor. Retired in 1978
Job Titles:
- Storeroom Supervisor
- Safety Officer
Served 1985-2010. Safety Officer and Organic Labs Storeroom Supervisor, Richard for a time also maintained the chemistry computer lab. Richard kept the faculty informed of the safety regulations, and was always ready to work with groups to find the best way to comply with them (when they were willing to listen).
served 1946-1972; A.B. '31, Ph.D. '39 Stanford. Analytical chemist. Department Chair from 1949 to 1952. "He taught analytical chemistry which I think he learned training chemistry technicians for Shell in WW II." - V. Landis. Rowe's description in the Robinson History.
served 1966-1969, physical chemist. Effectively traded to us by U. Minnesota for his former student, William Ware. "Livingston was an inspiration in the measurement of rates and rate laws for several generations of chemists at U. of Minnesota. His chapters in Weissberger's Methods of Organic Chemistry guided hundreds of graduate students in their research. We were fortunate that he went into active retirement here for three years." - V. Landis. Livingston's description in the Robinson History.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus, Biochemistry
served 1963, 1968-2014; B.S. UCLA, M.S. SDSC, Ph.D. SDSU/UCSD (Arne Wick). Research in carbohydrate biochemistry. Robert received the first-ever Ph.D. awarded by the CSU. His first listing among the chemistry faculty is as a lecturer in 1963, and was elected a AAAS Fellow in 1968. He was originally hired into the Physical Sciences faculty, joining Chemistry when Physical Sciences was dispersed, where (though now retired) he continues his engagement in and advocacy for science education.
Robert is responsible for overseeing office matters regarding the Department.
Analytical technician. Bob Steed retired from the Navy as a Lt. Commander and later attended SDSU where he received a BS in Chemistry. Bill Richardson remembers him as "an outstanding student in Qualitative Organic Analysis. He was later hired as an instrumental technician, where he performed an invaluable service to the department."
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Coordinator for the 2001 / 2002 Academic Year
served 1952-1957, Ph.D. U. Wisconsin. "A grand old retired professor, Ross Baker. He taught freshman laboratories and scientific glass blowing. The latter was not only a fun thing, it was a real service to the department as he could construct special apparatus. Glass blowing was also his hobby and he had a small shop at his Mt Helix home. I still have a 1" high pitcher with cobalt blue handle, a hero's engine, and a couple of other items which he gave us." -- V. Landis. In 1945 Baker retired as Chairman of the New York Section of the A.C.S., largest of the 106 local sections. He was Professor of Chemistry at C.C.N.Y. His father taught chemistry at De Pauw University.
served 1946-1949, A.B. '37 SDSC, M.A. '39 UCLA. Evans' write-up in the Robinson History.
Scott Burley, Master's Thesis 2013. Diversity - Optimized Route to the Ergoline Skeleton and the Efficient Synthesis of New HCV Inhibitors.
Stephen B. W. Roeder served 1968-; A.B. Dartmouth, Ph.D. '65 U. Wisconsin (E. Stejskal and W. Vaughn). Magnetic resonance spectroscopist. Steve was hired with a joint appointment to Chemistry and Physics, and continues to be active in both departments despite his recent appointment to Dean of SDSU's Imperial Valley Campus. His many terms of service to the University have included serving as Chair of the Department of Physics from 1975-78 and Chair of Chemistry from 1979 to 1985, then again Chair of Physics from 1991-1994 and Chair of Chemistry from 1995-1998. He was appointed Interim Dean of the College of Sciences from 1998-2000, and served as coordinator of the off-campus centers for three years before taking on the position in the Imperial Valley. Steve has also been active in the development of the Liberal Studies Program at SDSU.
Glassblower. Originally from Hungary, Cseri is still remembered by many as an outstanding glassworker. "Steve Cseri was one of the most talented glassblowers that I had encountered. I addition, he was a nice guy. If you could draw a sketch of it, Steve could make it. He made some specialized photochemical glassware for me which couldn't be found in a catalog and it proved very useful. One of his greatest contributions was building vacuum racks, which is a custom job that requires the glassblower to be on site. He built one for me which got a lot of use, but this was minor compared to those he built for Ring and O'Neal. They had a large laboratory almost completely filled with vacuum racks. The cost to hire a glassblower on site to make these would have been prohibitive." - W. Richardson.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Coordinator
Administrative Support Coordinator (ran the main office), following Michelle Johnson, for several years. Susan moved in 2001 to support the less nervous faculty in Astronomy for her last few years at SDSU, retiring at the end of 2006.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Organic
Job Titles:
- Master 's Thesis 2014. Novel Approach to Synthesis and Analog Diversification of New Hepatitis C Inhibitors
served 1954-2000; B.S. Washington State College, Ph.D. '57 U. Minnesota (Robert Bradsted). Joined the Department at age 24, coming from U. Minnesota with a major in inorganic and a minor in analytical chemistry. "Hired as inorganic chemist. There were 230 faculty and 23 administrators in the catalog. I think there were 5,700 students. The faculty doubled in three years. I worked in freshman chem, analytical chem and advanced inorganic until I developed the graduate Inorganic Chemistry courses when we got the MS degree. Then Ring and Bennett were hired and took over Grad Inorganic so I coordinated freshman chem for about 17 years. Then I went full time analytical and undergrad advisor." - V. Landis. Retired after 45 years working in the Department, most recently as an outstanding undergraduate advisor. Now a Lakeside resident and frequent pit crew member for Mexican motocrosses.
served 1962-1991; B.S. U. Washington, Ph.D. '58 Oregon State U. (J.C. Decius). Physical chemist. Jones set up an outstanding integrated senior physical-analytical lab program, featuring instruction in molecular structure research, interpretation of IR spectra, etc, and served as Chairman of the Chemistry Department for three years.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus, Biochemistry
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Analytical Chemistry
- Interim Vice Provost
Research Interests
We have developed novel nonlinear multi-photon laser methods for chemical analysis with zeptomole-level (10-21 mole) or sub-parts-per-quadrillion-level detection sensitivity for a wide range of areas including biomedical, environmental and security applications. The Tong Lab has been funded by various funding agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health (R01), National Institute of General Medical Sciences, U.S. Department of Defense (CCAT), U.S. Department of Homeland Security and various corporate funding sources for studies in analytical chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, physical chemistry and biophysics.
served 1946-1948; B.S. '36 UC Berkeley, Ph.D. Ohio State U. (M. L. Pool). Moquin had been a chemistry student at SDSU before completing his degree at Berkeley, and followed that with graduate training in radiation chemistry. Moquin's description in the Robinson History.
served 1963-1994, B.S. UCLA, Ph.D. U. Illinois (David Curtin), postdoc U. Washington (Ken Wiberg). Organic chemist. "An outstanding lecturer" - V. Landis.. A Navy vet of the Korean War (radar support on a destroyer) and among the most prominent and productive researchers in the Department's history, Bill's work is in the area of chemiluminescene centered on 1,2-dioxetanes. The work was supported by PRF, ARO, and NSF, and Bill was called to serve a term as an NSF program officer. Another interest is photochemistry, which was supported by a grant from IBM. In the early sixties he received The Distinguished Professor Award of SDSU and was nominated by SDSU for the Statewide Outstanding Professor Award. Although retired in San Diego, Bill continues his research into organic radicals using computational quantum methods. He also recently taught an advanced Computational Chemistry class for the department.
Physical chemist, served 1962-1966; B.A. Reed College, Ph.D. U. Delaware. "Bill Ware's research area was in Photochemistry where he was a pioneer in Flash Photochemistry, a method to detect and characterize species with extremely short life-times. His work was generously supported by the NSF. The University of Minnesota 'stole' him from us and he later joined the Photochemistry Center at the University of Western Ontario. He was an avid collector of violins." - W. Richardson. Ware's description in the Robinson History.