Education

• B.A.: Earlham College (1976)
• Ph.D.: University Of Illinois (1981)

I am a farm boy at heart. Born and raised on a Jersey dairy farm in southern Ohio, I spent my youth baling hay and milking cows, and was one of the best swine judges in my high school FFA Chapter. I spent many county fair weeks as the dean of the 4-H dairy barns, left to supervise the younger 4-H members when they stayed overnight so that they could prepare their cattle for the early morning shows. Living on the farm opened my mind to the wonders of life, and peaked my curiosity about how and why things happened.

I went to college as a biology major, but very quickly converted to a chemistry major, because I found that it was the tools of chemistry that would let me understand why things happen better than would the study of biology. I attended Earlham College, a small, Quaker affiliated, liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. After having spent my first year with the job of washing dishes in the cafeteria, I was more than pleased when offered the position of Laboratory Assistant in the Chemistry Department at the beginning of my sophomore year. Over the next 3 years, I lab assisted for every chemistry course taught at the college. I began doing research during my junior year, working first on spiral transition metal complexes, and later writing my senior research paper on the ultrapurification and high precision titration of benzoic acids.

During my senior year, Professor Nelson J. Leonard, from the University of Illinois, gave a talk at Earlham on the synthesis of nucleoside analogs, and I became intrigued with the possibility of graduate school. I applied to the University of Illinois and was accepted, where I joined Professor Leonard's research group. I wrote my thesis on the ribosidation of triazolinone. During my time at Illinois I taught for two and a half years, teaching both semesters of introductory chemistry, introductory chemistry laboratory, and organic chemistry lab.

After I finished my Ph.D. in the summer of 1981, I came to Wellesley College, first on a one year appointment which was extended for an additional two years, and then finally converted a tenure track position at the end of my second year. I took his early leave at the National Cancer Institute, working on the synthesis and structural analysis of biologically active nucleoside analogs. Several of the compounds which I synthesized while at the NCI had significant biological activity, but none of them made it through the screening processes because of undesirable side effects.

At Wellesley College, I have taught predominantly Organic Chemistry, but have also regularly taught a course in Medicinal Chemistry. I have been intensely involved in undergraduate research, having worked with over 100 students in my labs. My research centers on the synthesis of nucleoside analogs, designed based on predictions about the conformations required for biological activity. I have taken over 40 of these students to American Chemical Society Meeting to present their research.

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