STIMULATING CHEMICAL RESEARCH in the SOUTHEASTERN STATES, an EXPERIMENT' q
JOHN R. SAMPEY
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Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina
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HEMICAL consultants for industrial concerns are common enough. Indeed, i t has been said that there is not an organic chemist of outstanding reputation in the country who does not have one or more such connections. It was not until two years ago, however, that a specialist of wide experience in the academic and industrial fields offered his services to a group of colleges. Dr. E. Emmet Reid, Professor Presented before the Division of Chemical Education at the ninety-seventh meeting of the A. C. S., Baltimore, Md., April 4, 1939.
Emeritus of the Johns Hopkins University, recognizing the retarded development of pure research in the Southeastern states, conceived the plan of visiting institutions in this area with the purpose of assisting chemical research among members of the chemistry st& and qualified students. Professor J. Sam Guy of Emory University was interested in the development from the first, and succeeded in organizing a group a t the Chapel Hill meeting of the American Chemical Society. The results achieved in this unique experiment in chemical education are of general interest, and while some names
of individuals and institutions are used in the following cording to accepted standards of the profession, and report, they are of minor importance in comparison suitable for publication in the Journal of the American with the general objective of hoping to stimulate further Chemical Society. The contribution may be small, but experiments of the sort described. i t must be first class. The problems undertaken are varied in nature according to the interests and experiINSTITTTIONS VISITED ence of those undertaking them. The institutions visited during the first session of Last year approximately eight professors and twenty1937-38 were The University of Richmond, Richmond, five students were cooperating; this year (1939) twelve Virginia; the University of South Carolina, Columbia, professors and forty students are participating in the South Carolina; Fnrman University, Greenville, South plan. In each institution there are more or less tranCarolina; Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Bir- sient contacts with other faculty members and students. mingham-Southern College and Howard College, both Dr. Reid's name appears in the faculty lists of some of of Birmingham, Alabama. This year Alabama Poly- the institutions as adviser to the chemistry department, technic Institute, Auburn, Alabama, and the Uni- but he will not permit his name to appear as a co-author versity of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama have joined on publications, although naturally notes are inserted the circuit. thanking him for chemicals or for assistance. THE PLAN
Dr. Reid has always insisted on the point of view that he is not directing the research of either teachers or students, but that he is seeking to help both by informal advice. All contacts with students are through their professors. At the opening of the session a large number of problems are sent around, each one written up in sufficient detail to show reasons for undertaking it, and the methods, apparatus and chemicals required to attack the solution of the same. These suggested problems are for anyone who wants them. Last year a t the University of South Carolina all five students in the project there happened to work on these suggested problems, while a t Emory University six out of the eight students were on Dr. Quayle's own problems. Most of these six, however, used compounds which Dr. Reid happened to have in stock from previous investigations of his students. Dr. .Quayle was interested in measuring parachors of groups of isomers, and i t happened Dr. Reid had just such groups already prepared. The latter's large collection of carefully purified chemicals is drawn upon whenever it cad be useful. By juggling train and bus schedule* Dr. Reid manages to spend the working hours of successive days a t the various institutions. The consultation periods are spent in informal discussions of problems, considering their difficulties, interpreting results, and planning further experiments. Four trips around the circuit are made; in October, December, February, and April. Between the trips reports of progress y e sent to Baltimore. The student writes his results and questions in triplicate; one copy is filed with the professor, one is kept by the student, and one is sent to Dr. Reid. Comments on these are sent to the professor in charge so that he has a complete record, and all concerned are in possession of all the facts. Emphasis is put on undertaking problems of such a size and nature that there is a reasonable expectation of completing them within the time available. Since the students concerned are beginners in research and have limited time for such work, i t means that small problems must be assigned, or small sections of larger ones, but it is demanded that whatever is done be done ac-
PINANCIAL BASIS
Many who are condemned to live in the frozen North go South to indulge their fondness for fishing, hunting or golf, and pay good money for their fun. It so happens that Dr. Reid does not fish, hunt, or play golf, but he regards chemical research as the greatest sport on earth. He considers himself fortunate to be able to engage in this down South without it costing him anything. The institutions visited put up one hundred dollars a year apiece which pays for traveling expenses, stenographic assistance and other incidentals. At the end of the year what is left over is returned to the subscribing institutions for special chemicals or other departmental purposes. RESULTS
Two years is too short a period in which to expect many results from the launching of a research program in institutions which have had little time or opportunity for such activity in the past. From the work of last year, however, eleven papers wke presented before state and national scientific meetings, and as many more are scheduled for similar meetings this spring (1939). Three articles have appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and several others are in preparation on last year's results; there will be a larger number from this year's. Another objective method of evaluating the program is to list some of the contributions made to fundamental research. In addition to the synthesis of more than seventy-five new compounds, the methods of preparation of substances of known structures have been improved; one of the preparations of the latter type has been called for by the editors of "Organic Syntheses." These advances made in purely synthetic work have been matched by studies of the mechanism of organic reactions, rates of reaction, parachor measurements, and so forth. The mere cataloging of the titles of problems under investigation, the listing of the papers published and read, and the naming of discoveries of scientific significance that have been made, all fail to convey what those closest to this new development of chemical
education feel has been and is the most important contribution made by Dr. Reid in his rounds-I refer to the quickened activity not only of the personnel of the several chemistry departments concerned, but the awakened interest in creative scholarship on the part of other departments of the institutions visited. Dr. Reid is eminently fitted professionally by his years of academic and industrial experience to serve as a consultant in wide fields of organic and physical chemistry. To this breadth and depth of view he adds a freshness of approach to every problem that is contagious to staff members and students alike. It is not surprising to learn that more than half of the students who came under Dr. Reid's influence last year are planning research careers, while this year's group is fired by the same ideals of scientific achievement. But what was not foreseen a t the beginning of the experiment is the way this zeal for productive scholarship is working its
way into other departments. One such department in a related field of science, which had not produced a publication in the last decade, brought forth a creditable article this spring in the leading research journal in its field. Another good deed was done when an English professor discovered that the same microfilm reader used to bring foreign journal articles of a scientific nature could also give him access to rare manuscripts in his field, and he has become a regular user of this tool of research which should mean much to a section of the country that can boast so few big libraries. In short, it is the studied opinion of more than one observer of this new experiment of chemical education that if the South and Southeast could locate a few more E. Emmet Reids they would pull out faster from their present arrested development in pure science and related fields of creative scholarship than by any other means now a t work in these sections.
