Alumnus Focus

I joined the IUPUI chemistry graduate program in 1982 when the School of Science consisted of two buildings on 38th Street, across from the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

By: Mary Tecklenburg

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My fiancee, Ron Tecklenburg, started the same program the year before. He had been attracted to IUPUI by the industrial co-op program. From his second semester he worked half-time at Dow Chemical in the analytical sciences lab while completing graduate classes and research on planar chromatography towards his MS thesis with David Nurok. I completed a BS in chemistry from St. Louis University in May 1982, was married to Ron in June, and one week later began graduate research at IUPUI. I worked with Paul Dubin on polymer analysis by size exclusion chromatography. The research lab was formerly a teaching lab that was used by several analytical research groups. A row of desks for the graduate students lined one wall and each aisle of the lab was assigned to a different group. Ron and I worked in the same lab with our friends Portia Bass and Mary Stregel who worked under Leon Studulski analyzing the metal composition of minute samples from ancient museum objects.

I am grateful to the IUPUI chemistry department for the fellowship that allowed me to completely focus on research and classes so that Ron and I both finished the MS program in August 1983. That summer Paul Dubin edited each thesis chapter as I wrote the next one, making points with funny remarks in the margins. I defended my thesis with a truck already packed, ready to move on. IUPUI was just starting the PhD in chemistry program but Ron and I decided to take another opportunity. We went to Texas A&M for PhD’s and Michigan State for postdocs. Ron continued in analytical chemistry, focusing on mass spectrometry. But I had discovered an interest in quantum mechanics after taking David Malik’s class at IUPUI. So I completed the PhD course work in physical chemistry with a research dissertation on high resolution vibrational spectroscopy.

As our postdoctoral positions were ending, Ron and I faced the problem of finding good jobs for both of us in the same location. He took an analytical chemist position at Dow Corning in Midland, Michigan while I continued looking. A few months later Central Michigan University had an opening, and when I was hired as an assistant professor I was the first woman in a tenure track position in the chemistry department. Since then the CMU chemistry faculty diversity has increased to 40% female. I have had the pleasure of teaching physical chemistry and mentoring student researchers at the BS, MS, and PhD level. Three years ago I took on a new role as chairperson of the Chemistry and Biochemistry department. Ron still works in the same lab but now he is an associate scientist for Dow Chemical. And our three children, twin sons and a daughter, are in college taking steps towards their future careers.

IUPUI was where I learned to think and write scientifically and take ownership of my research. My first publication was with Paul Dubin. A few years ago Paul let me know that our paper had been cited in a paper that referred to the “Dubin-Tecklenburg” model. The term hasn’t caught on but it is great to recall how much Ron and I learned and accomplished at IUPUI and how far it has led us.