As far back as the sixth grade I recall wanting to be a scientist, not that I really knew what a scientist was at that age; I just thought it was someone in a lab coat mixing things in beakers.  Fast forward several years and here I am, pretty much the scientist I envisioned; ok so I don’t wear the lab coat as often as I should and analytical chemistry isn’t quite what I had envisioned, but I still made it.

 

I certainly had no idea that by this age I would be leading a research group doing separation of analytes as varied as nanoparticles and red blood cells.  Nor did I have any knowledge of phosphoniums and the manner in which they would differ from ammonium in their ability to alter electrophoretic separations.  But that is what we are doing in my lab, along with many other projects aimed at increasing our understanding of how to conduct chemical analysis and furthering our abilities as analytical chemists.

 

Having the opportunity to both teach and do research in analytical chemistry has been incredibly gratifying and stimulating.  Hopefully the work that is done in my lab will help stimulate the imagination of the next generation of scientists, while I help train the current generation.