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Volume aaa, Number 7 |
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Chemistry research honored
SARA BODNAR
STAFF WRITER
This past summer, Chemistry Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Ronald Christensen was rewarded for his 26 years of research endeavors at Bowdoin College. In August, the American Chemical Society (ACS) officially named Christensen the 2003 winner of the ACS Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution. A recipient of this prominent award and a $5,000 grant, Christensen has received the recognition for his devotion to science-related research.
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| Professor Christensen received recognition for decades of research at Bowdoin when awarded the American Chemical Society Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
Arriving to Bowdoin in 1976, Professor Christensen planned to "establish research programs that would involve undergraduates and contribute both to their learning and careers." During his time at the College, Christensen has supervised roughly 60 students who have pursued honors with the Chemistry department. Christensen dedicated both his academic years and summers to his involvement with undergraduate research.
The ACS award also acknowledges Professor Christensen's personal investigations in chemistry. A physical chemist, Christensen studies photochemistry, the molecular phenomenon associated with the conversion of light into useful forms of energy in chemical and biological systems, which means that he can explain the orange shade of carrots or the rare occurrence of blue lobsters. Christensen spent 30 years studying the chemistry of vision; his undergraduate work at Oberlin College sparked his extensive examination of the molecules linked with vision and photosynthesis.
Christensen's commitment to photochemistry and photobiology has taken him all over the world. After engaging in graduate work at Harvard University, he traveled to the University of Leiden in the Netherlands for his post-doctorate. Since then, Christensen has been a research fellow and visiting professor at universities in London, Melbourne, and Okazaki, Japan. He explained that he relished the opportunity to use advanced techniques at institutions renowned at an international level. On his abroad experiences, Christensen said, "Science in itself is an international language. Technology has made it easier to work with people at long distances. It's not that hard to have a serious collaboration with someone on the other side of the ocean."
Faculty research can enrich students' understanding of courses and can introduce them to specific areas of a topic they would like to explore, be it in the form of an English paper or a physical chemistry honors thesis.
Although Professor Christensen has worked at countless labs and universities, he still has a fondness for the Bowdoin Chemistry department. At Bowdoin, Christensen said he has had "wonderful students interested in doing science during the academic year and in the summers….My research-active colleagues in the chemistry department are very supportive…Bowdoin provides a good atmosphere for scientific research."
At the end of this year, Christensen will temporarily leave Bowdoin and embark on a one-year sabbatical. Although part of the year will be dedicated to research at the University of Connecticut, his exact plans remain undetermined.