EDUCATION Colleges Pay Industry Dividends Midwest a w a r d winner, Cliff Hamilton, says industries generous help to colleges pays off i ODAY almost every college and university in the U. S. finds itself in a financial predicament. Some colleges may possibly be forced to close down completely, but an even more serious result may be the lowering of e d u c a tional standards, according to Cliff S. Hamilton of the University of Nebraska, recipient of the eleventh Midwest Award. While the solution to educational problems in the colleges is not entirely financial, money judiciously given is doing m u c h to relieve college burdens. Industry, for example, is making a generous effort in behalf of education. T h e concept of "corporate citizenship" is not new, b u t has caught on tremendously in t h e past d e c a d e . As industry has become more successful it has felt a need t o share its good fortune. The same n u d g e at the elbow has b e e n felt by industry that was felt b y the individuals w h o acquired wealth and then started foundations such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford. " T h e soft heart, we must remember, does n o t preclude t h e hard head," says Hamilton. Settlement of the legality and income-tax exempt status of corp o r a t e gifts has helped too. Also, w h e r e is industry t o go for its chemists and other scientists if the colleges are u n a b l e to provide them? Industry must continue to give the universities and colleges a boost if they are to supply t o p quality chemists with advanced degrees. This help can take several forms:
assistants, as research fellowships may, and also of giving the man valuable training in classroom teaching. For his own development, each graduate student should be required to do some teaching before he is given .a research fellowship. In addition to giving fellowships, industry can help universities b y coming to t h e financial rescue of good small colleties. In t h e Middle west at least the universities turn to the small colleges for the bulk of their graduate students in chemistry. • Besides good raw material, the universities need adequate facilities. Industry can supply capital funds a n d / o r unrestricted endowment funds for buildings and equipment. • Another highly important requirem e n t of a university is a competent faculty. We need energetic men w h o are interested in science, w h o teach b e cause they want to teach, and who will attract a n d hold students by their own enthusiasm. But the g a p between salaries of* chemistry teachers and industrial chemists is alarmingly wide. It means a real financial sacrifice for a high grade person with an advanced degree in chemistry to choose the teaching profession.
• T o put out these quality products the colleges first need good material. Industry can help through fellowships. T o b e most useful these should b e fluid and not hampered by restrictions to particular fields. The policy a d o p t e d by m a n y companies, of accompanying the fellowship grant with a gift to the department to help defray expenses is a fine idea, since the fellowship alone helps only the student a n d not the department. Teaching fellowships, n o w becoming more popular, have the advantages of not robbing the department of teaching
H a m i l t o n Best Known for Research on Arsenicals
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Faculty members may be helped b y outright grants for boosting salaries, endowment of chairs, research grants, summer employment or by consultant work. All of these are good and p a y industry dividends in the long run.
Cliff S. Hamilton, recently retired chairman of the chemistry department of the University of Nebraska, this year's recipient of the St. Louis Section's Midwest Award is best known for his research on organic arsenical compounds, and the large number of successful chemists he has trained. His P h . D . graduates number 65. T h e gold medallion is awarded annually to a scientist from one of the states bordering on Missouri for "meritorius contributions to the advancement of p u r e
or applied chemistry or chemical research." Hamilton is truly a midwesterner. H e was born at Blair, N e b . in 1889 and g r e w u p in Monmouth, 111. After spending a summer working a s a railr o a d section-hand, he decided higher education w a s the thing for him. He g r a d u a t e d cum laude from Monmouth College—without burning any midnight oil, it is said. H e was captain of the baseball team while in college. After a year of graduate study at the University of Illinois, h e was brought by World W a r I t o the Army's Chemical Warfare Service a t Edgewood Arsenal. T w o vears as an instructor at -Ohio Wesleyan followed, and then he resumed his graduate studies—this time a t the University of Minnesota. He later transferred to Northwestern where h e received his Ph.D. under L e w i s , of Lewisite fame. It was probably here that h e became interested in therapeutic arsenical compounds. Actually, toxic a n d therapeutic compounds often act i n a similar manner, the difference being one of degree. After receiving his P h . D . h e b e c a m e a research instructor in pharmacology at the University of Wisconsin for a short time and then went to Nebraska as assistant professor of chemistry in 1923. Except for two years ( 1 9 2 7 - 2 9 ) at Northwestern he has b e e n at N e braska ever since. H e retired as h e a d of the d e p a r t m e n t last year, but continues on t h e faculty. Hamilton contributed to the developm e n t of Mapharsen (widely u s e d against syphilis until replaced by p e n i cillin) a n d thereby proved Erlich h a d overlooked a good bet. H e is also well known for his work on the antimalarial, Camoquin. H e has published over sixty p a p e r s on organic arsenicals. H e h a s worked with almost all t h e important heterocyclic bases and h a s published an a d d i tional 40-odd papers on t h e m . During World W a r II Hamilton did contract research on toxic c o m p o u n d s for the Chemical Corps as a m e m b e r of the National Defense Research C o m mittee. H e also served in t h e O S R D . H e has been chairman of t h e Society's Division of Organic Chemistry a n d a member of the Divisional Executive Committee for several terms. Since 1942 h e has been a member of t h e editorial board of Organic Syntheses. H e was associate editor of Organic Reactions, Volume II, in 1944. Hamilton is interested in golf and bird watching, and, especially, fishing, according to C. S. ( " S p e e d " ) Marvel, a past ACS president. Until recently, Marvel, Hamilton and a g r o u p of other distinguished chemists useH to hold a "symposium" at Cliff Lake i n C a n a d a .
