Early Champions of Research in Chemistry with Undergraduates: From William Albert Noyes to Percy Lavon Julian.

Abstract

Research in chemistry with undergraduates is commonplace today, including in many liberal arts colleges. This educational opportunity for undergraduates goes back to the late 1800s, exemplified by William Albert Noyes at Rose Polytechnic, and was honed to an almost graduate-level experience by Percy Lavon Julian at DePauw University in the early 1930s. The connection between Noyes and Julian is discussed in this report. The article traces the origins of scholarly research performed by undergraduate students by Noyes at an institution that is now called the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. This model was then replicated and substantially expanded at DePauw University by Noyes's former colleague, William Martin Blanchard. Through sheer happenstance and a series of unfortunate incidents, Julian found himself entrusted with the task of running the undergraduate chemistry research program at DePauw in 1932. Julian's exceptional ability to mentor undergraduate students and to accomplish significant advances in synthetic organic chemical methodologies was highly successful despite the challenging circumstances of racial division, limited financial resources at DePauw during the Great Depression, and job uncertainty (as Julian was being paid by "soft money"). These experiences were undoubtedly formative in shaping Julian's career as a prominent scholar, inventor, and entrepreneur, and to his eventual legacy as one of the most inspirational chemical researchers in history. Julian's mentees at DePauw would also go on to have notable careers in the chemical sciences and allied scientific and academic disciplines.