About > College and Graduate School

When it came time to select a college, I chose to attend Ursinus College, a small liberal arts college in southeastern Pennsylvania. With an enrollment of only 1100 students, I received a very personal education. Majoring in chemistry I had intentions of going to medical school. While at Ursinus, I was active in many organizations including The Student Emergency Response Volunteers (SERV), Hillel, the premedical society, campus activities board, and the chemistry society.

Ursinus was also to be where my active interest in emergency medical services (EMS) was spawned. After taking a first aid class on campus, I was hooked on the feeling of having the skills to help others in their time of medical need. You can learn more about my involvement in EMS on another page. In retrospect, my participation in EMS rekindled something that was initiated over ten years earlier during my childhood. More importantly, though, it has enabled me to utilize my leadership skills. As Vice President of the National Collegiate EMS Foundation since 1997, it's been rewarding to see how much progress we've made in getting campus-based EMS systems the recognition and support they deserve.

Deciding that medicine really wasn't my career goal, my attention shifted to my chemistry skills. I decided to pursue graduate school and spent my first year of graduate school in the Ph.D. program at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, working under Dr. Stephen E. Creager, an electrochemist. Being at a Big-10 university with a campus population of 25,000 was decidedly different than being at a small liberal arts college in suburban Philadelphia. With world-known chemists teaching our graudate classes in top-notch facilities, my experience at IU was rewarding.

When my research mentor, Dr. Creager, took a position at Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina) in August, 1995, I followed him. While I wasn't happy to leave Indiana University, it was a necessary change. Shifting from life at a midwest "Big 10" university to a not-so-known university in the south took some adjustment. Attitudes were certainly different, and getting my bearings was important.

I didn't really know what to expect when it came to living in South Carolina. Had you asked me while I was at Ursinus two years earlier if I ever thought I would live south of the Mason-Dixon line, I would have simply told you "no." Something must be said for Southern hospitality. Many of the people I met in the Clemson area were genuinely warm people who didn't hesitate to open their homes. However, I always felt a little cautious when it came to revealing the fact that I was Jewish. There weren't many Jews on campus (perhaps 200 out of a population of 17,000), and it seemed that many South Carolinans feared things that are foreign to them. For the most part, however, many people used the opportunity to satisfy their curiosity about Judaism -- since I was likely the first Jew they had ever met.

As part of my graduate school experience, I spent nine months at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. While at LANL I worked with Dr. Tom Zawodzinski in the Materials Science and Technology division. My time at LANL taught me the basics of fuel cell research. I was able to bring that knowledge back to Clemson and jump start our fuel cell research program in May 1998. Some of the research I particpated in at LANL was subsequently presented at national conferences and symposia.

My time at LANL wasn't all spent in the lab. I managed to learn to ski while at LANL. Prior to coming to Los Alamos, I had been on skis exactly once (in 1994). With Pajarito Mountain Ski Area just ten minutes from my apartment, it was easy to get on the mountain practically any weekend we wanted. I also became enamored with the natural beauty of rural northern New Mexico.

Upon my return to Clemson I continued my fuel cell research. My hard work was paying off. April 8, 1999 I was awarded second place in a University-wide graduate student research forum. Along with $350, I received a nice trophy and a front-page spot in the University newspaper, The Tiger.

As I worked towards finishing my Ph.D. research, I remained active with various student organizations including Graduate Student Government, where I continued to serve as Executive Assistant until my "retirement" after seven semester of service in December 1999. As a result of my academic performance at Clemson in addition to my involvement on and off campus, in December 1999 I was inducted to the Eta chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Lambda (AEL) Graduate Honors Fraternity. By its charter, this group only offers membership to 1% of the student body. Needless to say, I was "honored" to be in the organization.

As graduation approached, so did the weighty task of obtaining gainful employment. After being a student for so many years, it was time for me to finally venture out into the workplace. The wheels of motion were put into action in March 2000 in New Orleans at the Pittsburgh Conference for Analytical Chemistry (Pittcon). I traveled to the conference with the solitary goal of landing a job. Walking the tradeshow floor at Pittcon (which was enormous), I had an epiphany. I knew that I wanted to job that would leverage my knowledge of chemistry, computers, Web, and technology. Talking to people at Pittcon finally put a name with the position I was seeking: laboratory information management systems (LIMS). Armed with that information, I could intelligently seek out potential employers that had LIMS positions. One of my interviews at Pittcon was with Beckman Coulter, who subsequently offered me a position.

My time at Clemson had drawn to a close. At Clemson's graduation on May 12, 2000 I was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry. My family traveled to Clemson to help me celebrate the event. Click here to see some pictures.