|
|
|
|
|
|
|
John Haseltine, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry
B.A. The University of Pennsylvania, 1981 Dr. Haseltine was an average undergraduate, but got into graduate school by a stroke of luck (some fellow had declined at the last minute, and Dr. H was there asking for an application). After the first year of graduate courses, TA work, and literature exams, they put him in an organic research lab and checked on him every year or so. He found that he enjoyed making big molecules out of little ones. He synthesized several targets of increasing size and complexity including liquid crystals, conformationally constrained dienes, and some precursors of tremorgenically active natural products. After writing up his results, he went to Yale for two years (to synthesize anticancer agents) and then on to a series of faculty appointments including a Visiting Assistant Professorship at MIT (1997-2000). About halfway through his doctoral work, Dr. H developed a healthy interest in reaction mechanism. I say ‘healthy’ because mechanistic understanding can dictate severely one’s rate and degree of success in organic chemistry. In 1996, Dr. H became interested in the chemistry of enzymes and other biopolymers. Biochemists had been telling him about prominent aspects of protease structure and kinetics that had never been well explained (proteases are enzymes that hydrolyze protein chains). He was instantly hooked by these mysteries, and enzyme mechanism became a new focus of his research. Most of Dr. H’s teaching has been in undergraduate and graduate organic chemistry courses, but he has also strayed into freshman chemistry, biochemistry, and physics. He came to KSU as a Visiting Assistant Professor (2003-2004) and began a tenure-track appointment in 2005. Dr. H brings to his teaching his obvious love of chemistry, his experience with a variety of molecular systems, and numerous personal anecdotes of dubious veracity. He approaches chemistry at all levels as a problem-solving, mind-opening activity and strongly recommends that students do so, too.
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
©2009 Kennesaw State University. |
|
|
|
|
