Stockroom | Staff Directory | Safety | History

Chapter 7

THE RECENT YEARS; THE EMERSON CENTER;
CHERRY LOGAN EMERSON HALL
1983-2001

The writer retired in 1981 and is not as familiar with activities in the department as in the previous 45 years when I was there as a student and teacher. Other members of the faculty will be better able to tell the story of the recent years. The following is a brief account of what has occurred in recent years taken mainly from Newsletters published in the 90's.
Report of Dr. Goldsmith

As previously mentioned, David Goldsmith took over as chairman when Leon Mandell left in the fall of 1983. Ron Johnson served as associate chairman. Dave served as chairman until 1990, when he was succeeded by Dr. Joel Bowman. In an annual report dated 1991 Dave made the following comments on departmental growth from 1983 to 1990.

“Following a review of the department made in the early 1980s, we undertook a five-year plan for faculty development. One of the areas targeted for expansion and development was physical chemistry. As a consequence, we were able to fill three new positions in this area with Michael Heaven, Joel Bowman, and M.C. Lin. Drs. Heaven and Bowman came to Emory from the Illinois Institute of Technology with established and nationally recognized research programs. M.C. Lin, with a distinguished record in research at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, joined the department as Woodruff Professor of Chemistry. With the retirement of Jake Goldstein, we also hired Professor David Live, who left a year ago for a position at Cal Tech.

“We were also able to add a new tenured faculty member, Lanny Liebeskind, in organic chemistry. Dr. Liebeskind came to us from Florida State, where he had also established an outstanding research program.

“New assistant professors in three of the general areas of the program also came on board. Professor Jeanette Adams joined us in analytical chemistry, Professor Carl Hagen in inorganic chemistry, and Professor Kent Stewart in organic chemistry. (Professor Stewart has since left for a position at Burroughs Wellcome.) In addition, this summer Professor William Crowe will come to the department from DuPont

“Many of you may remember how small the department was when we first occupied the “new” chemistry building. Concomitant with the growth of the faculty to twenty-one, however, has come a major expansion of the graduate program. During the 1980s we had a growth spurt that brought us from about 40 graduate students to approximately 110 at present. The number of postdoctoral research associates also grew to more than forty.

“This growth in students and faculty has been matched by an increase in the sophistication and availability of instrumentation in the department. In addition to major increases in NMR capability with the addition of five super conducting magnet instruments - including both 500 and 600 MHz machines - we have been successful in obtaining funding for a variety of other analytical instrumentation, including mass spectrometric facilities and infrared, ultraviolet-visible, and ORD/CD spectrometers. In addition, the department received generous support from NIH for a wide variety of computer workstations.

“The increase in our faculty and our research instrumentation during the past ten years has come about through the concerted effort of the faculty. The acquisition of instrumentation has meant raising extramural funds. Almost all of our instrumentation has been obtained through collaborative grants involving many of the faculty. Without this kind of an effort, we would have not been able to build or maintain a first-rate graduate program.

“The undergraduate program has also changed during the past ten years. We have seen a decrease (following national trends) in the number of chemistry majors. Nevertheless, we have maintained a strong program and are placing particular emphasis on attracting new students to chemistry through changes in the undergraduate curriculum.

“One result of all this growth has been claustrophobia; the Chemistry Building (now the Sanford S. Atwood Chemistry Center) is full. Clearly for the continued growth of the program at all levels, the department will need additional facilities. Considering how successful the faculty has been in making our program possible, I am sure that we will be able to achieve further growth for chemistry at Emory.”

In the fall of 1983 Dr. Craig L. Hill joined the staff as associate professor of inorganic chemistry. Craig received his B.A. degree from the University of California San Diego in 1971 and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1975. He was assistant professor of chemistry at the University of California Berkeley from 1977 to 1983. His research interests involve the development of new types of multifaceted catalysts for processes that are difficult or impossible to achieve with existing technology, inorganic pharmaceuticals, in particular the development of new inorganic anti-AIDS agents, and the dehalogenation of halocarbons, an issue of growing environmental concern.
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Report of Dr. Bowman

In the 1991 Annual Report Dr. Bowman wrote that when he assumed the chairmanship in 1990 a ten-year review of the department with an external visiting committee was scheduled. The following is a quote from his Overview, which appeared in a sixty-page document entitled “Review of the Chemistry Department, Emory University.”

“The development of the Chemistry Department in the past ten years has been remarkable. In that period of time the number of faculty grew from fifteen to twenty, the number of graduate students increased from fifty to 127, the number of postdoctoral candidates grew from eleven to forty-three, yearly publications went from forty-five to 100, the number of grants grew from eleven to forty, and grant support grew from $612,760 to $3,510,700 in 1989 and $2,839,400 in 1990. The staff grew from seven (FTE) including 1.5 technical staff to eleven (FTE) including four technical staff. Major departmental instrumentation, ranging from computers and networks to spectrometers (NMR, Mass Spec.), also increased at a remarkable rate. The first lasers appeared in the department in 1986, and currently there are twelve laser systems in chemical physics research labs as well as major surface science equipment. NMR facilities went from a single super conducting 300 MHz instrument in 1980 to seven NMRs, including 500 and 600 MHz instruments. The value of departmental instruments alone is roughly $3.5m, with a comparable worth for instruments purchased from individual investigator grants.

“In less quantitative terms, the growth of the research effort has resulted in considerable visibility of the faculty. A number of faculty serve as editors or on editorial boards of important serials and journals in their fields. Prestigious Dreyfus, Fulbright, Guggenheim, von Humboldt, and Sloan fellowships have been awarded to six faculty during this time. In addition, one faculty member has received the Presidential Young Investigator Award. Members of the faculty serve on numerous national committees, including the National Research Council Committee on NSF Fellowships, NIH Review Panels, ACS, and ACS-PRF committees. A considerable number of faculty also have consulting positions in private industry and collaborations with major research centers such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Argonne National Laboratory.”

Dr. Bowman also reported the following: “Last year with a faculty of nineteen we attracted $3,222,314 in total external funding. (On a per-faculty basis, this amount puts the department among the top twenty private universities in the country and about to enter the top ten.) The funding for next year will be boosted by nearly $1,300,000 due to three major instrumentation grants. Two grants - from NIH and NSF - are for a high-resolution, high-mass, tandem mass spectrometer that will greatly benefit Assistant Professor Jeanette Adam's research; the third grant - from NIH - is for a high-intensity, X-ray diffractometer, which will be a boon to the research of Assistant Professor Karl Hagen. The department was recently ranked twenty-sixth in the world on the basis of citations per article published by the faculty. This great distinction is one of which we are quite proud.”
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
The Emerson Center

In the early 90's the University launched a $400 million capital funding campaign. One of the major contributors to the campaign and to the benefit of the Chemistry Department was alumnus Cherry L. Emerson. Cherry had been a generous supporter of the department through the years, especially during the years when the department had to raise its own matching funds for research grants. The following is taken from a report during the campaign and was entitled “Emerson envisions the future of chemistry.”

“Cherry Emerson has always been ahead of the times. He learned the multiplication tables from his grandfather before he entered first grade at Atlanta's Spring Street School. Studying with the head of the mathematics department at Georgia Tech, he learned the rudiments of calculus before he got to Boys' High. The young man had a flair for business as well. For three summers in the middle of the Depression, he sold icy bottles of Coca-Cola to workmen building houses in Morningside, netting $685, which he used to buy his own Steinway piano.

“In 1941, after earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from Emory and a master's in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr. Emerson began a career as a chemist. Six years later he started a small chemical company, Emerson & Cuming, Inc., which became a pioneer in the development of plastics. Retiring to Sea Island, Georgia, in 1980, he renewed his ties with the University's chemistry department and endowed the Cherry L. Emerson Lecture Series to attract internationally recognized chemists to the campus. Today, his vision and support of the Emory Campaign have brought Emory into the age of high-speed 'supercomputing.'

“With an initial Campaign gift of $1.25 million, Mr. Emerson endowed the William Henry Emerson Chair in Chemistry, named for his grandfather, the founding dean of the school of engineering and chairman of the department of chemistry at Georgia Tech. A second Campaign gift of $2 million established the Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation, which provides powerful computing sources for researchers in a variety of disciplines. The Emerson Chair has been used to recruit one of the world's foremost quantum chemists and experts in high-speed computation, Keiji Morokuma, director of the Department of Theoretical Studies at the Institute for Molecular Science in Japan. Professor Morokuma will become director of the Emerson Center in September and a full-time member of the chemistry department faculty in January, 1993.

“'It seems to me that supercomputing is now so vital to the sciences, chemistry in particular, that I don't see how Emory can become a top ten university without a center like this,' Mr. Emerson explains. 'Besides, the chemistry department is ready for it. I have high regards for its chairman, Joel Bowman, and the rest of the faculty; they are truly outstanding. And Keiji Morokuma's appointment is going to put the department in the forefront of science in America. I believe that in a few years, people are going to say, 'If you want to study the best chemistry, go to Emory.'“

“'Cherry's generosity to the chemistry department is legendary,' says Dr. Bowman, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Physical Chemistry. 'His overriding concern has always been to do something for Emory that would make a lasting impression. He understands the growing importance of supercomputing, but he realized Emory needed a building block, a starting point. It was his idea to begin by creating the center and using the chair to attract the world's best computational chemist. Thanks to Cherry, we have.'

“Mr. Emerson bucked a family tradition by choosing to matriculate at Emory instead of Georgia Tech in the fall of 1934. 'I looked around, talked to people, and decided that the department at Emory was better than the one at Tech. Professor J. Sam Guy was the basic reason people recommended Emory. He, Osborne Quayle, Charlie Lester, and Bill Jones had a profound interest in their subject, which they passed along to their students.'

“After completing his undergraduate studies in 1938, Mr. Emerson accepted a teaching assistantship under Professor Quayle and earned a masters in organic chemistry the next year. He wanted to accept a fellowship at Johns Hopkins, but his father, a Georgia Tech engineer and a practical man, convinced him that a degree in chemical engineering would be more useful. Corresponding with Professor Warren K. Lewis at MIT, Mr. Emerson found the man with whom he wanted to study, and for the next two years he divided his time between MIT classrooms, a thesis practicum with Esso, and Vassar College, where he courted Professor Lewis' daughter, Mary. Married in 1942, the couple has six children and eleven grandchildren.

“During World War II, Mr. Emerson worked for Monsanto Chemical Company, supervising the production of ethyl alcohol for the U.S. Navy, a vital wartime project. After the war, he and Monsanto colleague William R. Cuming started their own business in suburban Boston. Building on their interest in plastics, they became the nation's first formulators of epoxy resins, adding different curing agents and filler materials to produce a variety of plastics. These, in turn, were used by manufacturers to make everything from the encapsulation of thermostats in electric coffeepots to the lining of pumps in deep oil well drilling. Emerson-Cuming also pioneered the development of a tiny, hollow, thin-walled particle called the Microballoon, which became the basic ingredient of the heat shield on spacecraft and the buoyant collar that makes offshore oil drilling equipment lightweight and manageable. The company also made its mark producing microwave absorbers, used to line the interior of large chambers where aircraft and automobile antennas can be tested without interference. W.R. Grace Company bought Emerson-Cuming in 1978.

“The Emersons returned to Atlanta in 1985 and became active with Emory's Friends of Music and the Board of Visitors. In 1987 the University honored Mr. Emerson with the Emory Medal in recognition of his professional accomplishments and generous support of the chemistry department.

“Mr. Emerson is modest about his generosity but clear about his reasons for supporting Emory. 'It cost me only $900 and lab fees to go to Emory for five years, so I feel I owe a big debt,' he says. 'I believe in Emory and think that in a few years it will be seen as a new, great university with a tremendous influence not only in the South, but in the United States and the rest of the World. It's clear to me that with the faculty and students it attracts, Emory has a much better chance of being on the frontier of education, especially in the sciences, than almost any other university in America.'”
The Honorary Degree

At the May 9, 1994 commencement the University awarded Cherry Emerson an honorary Doctor of Science degree. The citation was as follows:

Cherry Emerson knew his multiplication tables before he started school, he knew calculus before he went to Boys' High in Atlanta, and he knew the Emory chemistry department must have a supercomputing center to remain among the leading chemistry programs in the world. That is why he endowed a chair in chemistry to recruit one of of the world's foremost quantum chemists and expert in high-speed computation, and why he established the Cherry Emerson Center for Scientific Computation to provide powerful computing resources for Emory researchers in a variety of disciplines.

Although his grandfather was the founding dean of the School of Engineering at Georgia Tech, and his father was a Georgia Tech engineer, Cherry Logan Emerson chose to matriculate at Emory in 1934. He earned his master's degree in organic chemistry in 1939, then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study chemical engineering with Professor Warren K. Lewis. In 1942 he married Professor Lewis' daughter.

During World War II, Mr. Emerson worked for Monsanto Chemical Company, supervising the production of ethyl alcohol for the US Navy. Later he and colleague William R. Cuming began Emerson-Cuming, the nation's first formulator of epoxy resins that produced a variety of plastics by adding different curing agents and filler materials. Their products were used in items ranging from electric coffeepots to pumps for deep oil well drilling. Pioneering the development of the microballoon, the company also became involved in spacecraft and Stealth aircraft technology.

After retirement, the Emersons relocated to Atlanta and became active in Emory's Friends of Music and the Board of Visitors. In 1987 the University awarded Mr. Emerson the Emory Medal in recognition of his professional accomplishments and his devotion to the University
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Building Plans

In the fall of 1993 Professor Dennis Liotta assumed the chairmanship of the department. He served until 1996 when he was made Vice President for Research. The fall of 1994 marked the twentieth anniversary of the occupation of the new building. A departmental newsletter at this time commented as follows on the status of the building:

“We still occupy the 'New Chemistry Building,' the Sanford S. Atwood Chemistry Center, and it is still one of the outstanding chemistry facilities in the country. The hard work and long range planning which went into the design and construction of the building paid off - perhaps too well!

“Those of our alumni who were here in the seventies must remember how spacious the building was relative to the size of our program at that time. Now, however, we have filled that space and we are bursting at the seams. Where we once had an enormous 'idle storage' room, we now have one of the most advanced laser laboratories for studying thin film deposition and propellant chemistry.

“From an undergraduate enrollment in 1974 of fewer than 200 students in organic chemistry, this past year we had more than 400. Part of the library has been used to house temporarily the new Emerson Center for Computational Science and another part has been transformed into our new computer laboratory. The basement room, which housed two small NMR instruments in 1974, now houses one large 600 MHz machine with four other super conducting FT spectrometers occupying a second large laboratory in our NMR center. Our research programs at times seem to play a game of constant musical chairs trying to find new or redone space in which to work - and there is not a single empty office left. Nooks, crannies and alcoves have been walled in, glass enclosed or otherwise delimited to provided necessary spaces. We cannot grow in new directions or even build on the programs we currently have. Neither can we establish new laboratories for undergraduate instruction in instrumental analysis and preparative inorganic and organic chemistry without new space. The department has had great success but we have strained our facilities now beyond their capacity.

“As part of a major University effort for the establishment of a Physical Sciences Center, we are now planning a major expansion and renovation of our chemistry facilities. The project has three major components. First is the construction of a new research wing, which will allow us to expand our scholarly work into the areas of materials and biomolecular chemistry. Spurred by the vision and leadership of one of our most distinguished alumni, Cherry L. Emerson, the initiative will enable us to increase our research and teaching capabilities into two of the most vital areas of contemporary science. Mr. Emerson has also been the driving force in the establishment of our new Center for Computational Science, and a new facility to house the Center, under the leadership of Professor Keiji Morokuma, is also in the planning stages. As part of the building, which will house the Emerson Center, we will construct a new Physical Sciences Library. The library will serve both the Chemistry and Physics departments, and attached to it will be a new lecture hall equipped with the newest equipment for electronic, audio and graphics techniques in teaching.

“Along with the construction of new facilities for research and bibliographic work, we are also planning the renovation of much of the space in our teaching-library wing. Ground floor laboratories will be renovated for teaching advanced chemistry courses in analytical and inorganic chemistry. The current organic laboratories will also be renovated to accommodate the number of students we now have as well as for increased numbers in the future. What is now the library area will be converted to research laboratories to accommodate those burgeoning programs in the department which now lack space in which to grow. Cooper Carry and Associates, Inc. of Atlanta, and Research Facilities Design of San Diego are working on the plans for the expansion and renovation.

“As departmental liaison to our Arts and Science Development staff, David Goldsmith will be working with them to organize a Chemistry Advisory Committee for fund raising for the new facilities. We will ask the committee, made up of both College and Graduate alumni, to help us in building our teaching and research programs and to help us in finding ways to achieve the next stage in the growth and development of Chemistry at Emory.”
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Cherry Logan Emerson Hall

At the reception for chemistry alumni on Alumni Day in 1998 it was announced that groundbreaking for Phase I of the Physical Science Center would take place in the spring of 1999. Representatives of the architects, Cooper Carry and Associates, were on hand to describe the new facilities. The five-story 70,000-square foot, $23.2 million building will house mainly chemistry and the Emerson Center. Several physics and mathematics and computer science offices will also be located in the building. The building will be connected to the Atwood Chemistry Center. The project is scheduled for completion by August 2000.

Dr. David Goldsmith was quoted in the November 30, 1998 Emory Report as saying, “Phase I is principally a research building; it will allow people with similar research interests to come at problems from the different disciplines of chemistry, physics and math. This is not just about people here getting new space, although some research labs are bursting at the seams and need new space to grow their programs. Our real goal is to increase the number of faculty and programs, both at the senior and junior levels, in the physical sciences.” Dr. Goldsmith has been involved in efforts to design such a physical science facility for a decade.
Groundbreaking

Photos by Professor Harvey Young
Groundbreaking Cherry Logan Emerson Hall, Summer 1999

Cherry Emerson, President Chase at podium

Left to right: Dave Goldsmith, Rev. Nancy Baxter, Dean Steven Sanderson, President William Chase, Cherry Emerson, Brad Curry

Cherry Logan Emerson

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Cherry Logan Emerson Hall were held May 13, 1999 at 11:00 A.M. The program was as follows:

Presiding
Bradley Currey Jr., Chair, Board of Trustees

Invocation
The Reverend Nancy J. Baxter, Episcopal Chaplain

Remarks
David J. Goldsmith, Professor of Chemistry
Steven E. Sanderson, Vice President for Arts and Sciences, Dean of Emory College
William M. Chace, President

Response
Cherry Logan Emerson

A special luncheon honoring Mr. Emerson was held in the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Reception Hall immediately following the groundbreaking.

President Chase, Cherry Emerson, Brad Curry
Notes on the Facility

When it opens in Fall 2000, Cherry Logan Emerson Hall will be the first new component of the Emory Center for the Physical Sciences. Named for Cherry Emerson – a distinguished alumnus and longtime benefactor of both the sciences and arts at Emory – Emerson Hall will house new research initiatives in chemistry, plus two programs each in physics and mathematics/computer science. The Emerson Center for Scientific Computing, now housed in Atwood Hall, will move to new and enlarged quarters in Emerson Hall. In addition, the Integrated Microscopy and Microanalytical Facility (IMMF) and a high field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) laboratory also will be located in this facility.

Reflecting the need for integrative, multidisciplinary approaches to the solution of contemporary scientific problems, Cherry Logan Emerson Hall will provide research and teaching opportunities for new and developing programs in the physical sciences. Laboratories and supporting facilities will be provided for faculty, research students, and postdoctoral research associates in new areas for which little space is now available. Emphasis will be placed on chemistry that focuses on the preparation and understanding of potentially useful new materials and on the continuing increase of our understanding of biology at the molecular level. With programs in physics having the same general focus, the opportunities for collaborative research will be many. In similar fashion, both the Emerson Center and the programs in mathematics/computer science will be able to develop ideas of joint interest and to interact with the experimental programs in chemistry and physics. Many of these research groups will be integral parts of the Physical, Materials, and Computational Science graduate program.

In addition to the research laboratories and the IMMF and NMR facilities, Emerson Hall will have offices for faculty and administrative staff, as well as classrooms to support the academic programs of Emory College. Reflecting the education and research components of the arts and science tradition, the design of Emerson Hall will mirror both the traditional Emory style of red tile roofs and the modernistic glass and functional design of Atwood Hall. That integration is reflected in the purposes of the building as well, given that classrooms for the Freshman Advising and Mentoring at Emory (FAME) program will coexist alongside sophisticated laboratories for research scientists.

The faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the University – and especially the departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics/Computer Science – wish to thank Cherry Emerson, whose support, encouragement, and leadership have made this day possible. His vision and unflagging commitment to Emory University will be a continuing inspiration to all who have the opportunity to participate in the science program at Emerson Hall.
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
New Introductory Chemistry Curriculum

The 1994 Newsletter carried the following report on the new introductory curriculum:

“This Fall the Chemistry Department will begin a pilot program to evaluate a new undergraduate curriculum for the first two years of Chemistry. A new introductory course, Chemistry 171 and 172, Organic Structure and Reactivity, will be offered for freshmen only. Many of our entering students have had high school chemistry courses that are the equivalent of our standard general chemistry sequence. Students who come to Emory with good high school chemistry backgrounds don't gain enough from the standard entry level course to justify the year they devote to it, and to some extent they are 'turned off' by it.

“These are the students who will take the new sequence. The emphasis will be on the architecture and the transformations of organic compounds, and there will be a strong focus on qualitative problem solving. Questions will be asked about how one knows the structures of molecules, what kind of measurements are available to decipher structure and how do you use the information derived from such measurements. Accompanying the investigation of structure will be the consideration of how reactivity is linked to structure. In comparison to a standard organic course, there will be less emphasis placed on multi-step synthesis and fewer reactions will probably be covered.

“The new second year courses for students who have taken Organic Chemistry as freshmen have not been planned in detail. However, we will introduce Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry and continue the theme of chemistry as a problem solving discipline. If we plan these two years of introductory organic, inorganic, and analytical courses well, they will provide a natural context in which we can introduce most of the essential physical concepts covered presently in General Chemistry. We should also have time to teach more inorganic and analytical chemistry than we do now in General Chemistry.

“These first two years will satisfy the students' needs for further study in chemistry, biology or medicine. We believe that the coverage of organic chemistry in the first year will be particularly beneficial to biology students. In beginning biology courses, students are now introduced to complex biologically important molecules with virtually no background in either structural theory or reactivity.

“Since the program is still experimental, enrollment in the new course for the first year will be limited to 50-60 students. We expect, however, that in the future a very high percentage of our entering freshmen will take the new introductory course.”
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Faculty Research in the News

The research activities of several faculty members have been in the news recently. The February 12, 1996 issue of Chemical and Engineering News had an article on combinatorial chemistry that recognized the work of Professor Fred Menger. It said that Fred and coworkers at Emory were using a form of combinatorial molecular recognition to identify industrial catalysts. They are making hundreds of organic compounds very quickly and testing their catalytic power on the hydrolysis of a phosphate ester. They have already identified polymers that accelerate phosphate hydrolysis by a factor of 10,000 or more. In future work the researchers hope to make chiral polymers that can reduce functional groups enantioselectively. Menger was quoted as saying that industry is moving more and more toward aqueous systems to avoid organic solvents. “If one could devise catalysts for organic reactions in water, that would be a useful practical development,” he said.

The February 19, 1996 issue of C&EN, in an article on cavity ringdown absorption spectroscopy (CRLAS), reported on the work of Professor Ming-Chang Lin. Professor Lin and coworkers are studying the kinetics of species that show weak absorption or ones that cannot be studied by methods like laser-induced fluorescence. The phenyl radical, which plays an important role in combustion but shows weak absorption, has been created by photodissociation and its absorption measured by CRLAS. By varying the time between dissociation and the CRLAS measurement from 0 to 10 milliseconds, they have been able to determine rate constants for several reactions. They have also applied the technique to reactions with the phenoxy radical, and are studying other nonfluorescing radical species.

The Emory Report had articles on the research of Professors Craig Hill and Lanny Liebeskind. The article on Professor Hill said that he had collaborated with pulp and paper companies and other researchers to develop an environmentally and technologically safe way of making paper. Paper companies currently add chlorine or chlorine derivatives to remove lignin from the wood used to make paper. While this is effective, byproducts, such as dioxin and other potentially cancerous chemicals are produced. Environmental laws are now preventing the release of these substances into rivers and streams during the papermaking process. Professor Hill and a team of other researchers have developed new catalysts, called polyoxometalates, to remove lignin from wood without damaging the cellulose. He and Ira Weinstock of the US Forest Products Laboratory have been issued a patent for the procedure of bleaching and mineralizing the waste products. The new technology must now be adopted by paper companies, and Professor Hill is optimistic that this will be forthcoming.

The second article reported on the development of a solution that will stay on surfaces for months and prevent the growth of bacteria. Professor Lanny Liebeskind and two postdoctoral students, Gary Allred and Eric Nickel, developed the antibacterial agent. They then had to develop a method of bonding the agent to a surface through a silane-coupling process. They found that by adding a second molecule to the antimicrobial agent it could be activated by water and then stored and shipped without polymerizing. They have also developed an additive which stabilizes the antimicrobial agent in solutions of high pH. This solution can be added to a load of laundry which will then be bacteria-resistant for several months. The product has the potential of treating any surface, such as hospital sheets and mattresses, bathroom tiles and curtains, etc., making them bacteria resistant.

The September 20th issue of the Emory Report had an article on Professor Fred Menger's research on a decontamination system for undesirable materials, such as poison gases, using an aqueous system rather that an organic solvent. Normally toxic materials are not soluble in water, and if you spray water on them nothing happens. Menger overcame this problem by using an aqueous emulsion consisting of hydrocarbons that are stabilized with a surfactant (soap). Common household bleach is added to this to destroy the toxin. When the emulsion is sprayed onto a toxin, it traps the poison inside the tiny droplets where the bleach destroys them. Although Fred's experiments have not involved chemicals used in chemical warfare, he has been told that his system performed well during tests on the real agents.
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Alumni Update
Alumni Award to Harold Johnston

Dr. Harold S. Johnston, `41-'65 Honorary Sc.D., was one of the three recipients of the Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Awards at Alumni Day in September, 1997.
DuPont Lavoisier Medal.

Two Emory alumni, who received honorary Doctor of Science degrees at the dedication of the new Chemistry Building in 1974, were recently named winners of the DuPont Lavoisier Medal. William Frank Gresham, '29-'30G, and Joseph Jack Kirkland, '48-'49G, were among the six winners of the medal for 1997. The purpose of the medal, named in honor of the father of modern chemistry, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, is to honor scientists and engineers who have demonstrated a career of creative technical contributions which resulted in a measurable business impact or technical achievement of enduring significance.

Recipients of the medal are inducted into the Lavoisier Academy and bronze plaques honoring Academy members are on permanent display at the Experimental Station. The plaques for the two alumni read as follows:

William Frank Gresham

The most prolific inventor in DuPont History with 136 patents in process and polymer chemistry

Joseph Jack Kirkland

Major contributor to important analytical technologies such as high performance liquid chromatography and field flow fractionation techniques

Frank Gresham retired to Naples, Florida, after 36 years in Wilmington. He died in 1983 after laying the foundations for a generation of ground breaking developments in chemical research.

Jack Kirkland was the first analytical chemist to receive the DuPont Lavoisier Medal. He retired as a DuPont Fellow in 1992 and founded Rockland Technologies, which develops and processes HPLC packings. The company recently merged with Hewlett-Packard.
The Martin Award Medal

On June 23, 1997 Hewlett-Packard Europe announced in Geneva, Switzerland that J. Jack Kirkland was the 1997 recipient of the Martin Award. The award was made in Geneva at the HPLC '97 Symposium by Derek Stevenson, president of the Chromatographic Society. The award is named for Professor A.J.P. Martin, Nobel Prize winner, and is generally considered by separation scientists to be one of the most prestigious, independent national awards in this field.

Dr. Stevenson said, “Dr. Kirkland receives his award in recognition of the major contribution he has made to the science of chromatography, especially liquid chromatography.”

Among the numerous scientific awards Jack has received are the 1972 American Chemical Society Award in Chromatography and the 1982 Torbern Bergman Medal in Analytical Chemistry from the Swedish Chemical Society. Since 1971 Jack and Lloyd Snyder, an analytical chemist from California, have taught the American Chemical Society's course on chromatography to more than 8,000 students nationwide. Jack has written or edited four textbooks on chromatography. The first book, Introduction to Modern Chromatography, is available in six languages. The second edition of Practical HPLC Method Development (L.R. Snyder, J.J. Kirkland and J.L. Glajch) was published in March by John Wiley. It is a completely new version of about 750 pages, more than twice the length of the first edition. Jack has also written more than 100 papers and holds 20 patents.
The Robertson Distinguished Professorship

Nat C. Robertson, `37Ox, `39C, `70H, recently gave $1.25 Million to fund the Robertson Distinguished Professorship, a key element in the Emory College Program in Science and Society. This program will be a signature initiative of Emory College and an instructive model for fusing undergraduate teaching, the highest-quality research, and public service. The rotating professorship will be awarded to an outstanding senior scholar whose work and distinction have come in addressing the link between science and society. The Robertson professor, chosen by a panel of peers, will spend a semester at Emory teaching an undergraduate course and offering public lectures. The inaugural lecture was held April 7, 1999 in the Cox Hall Ballroom and was presented by Dr. Howard Kushner, Professor of History of Medicine and Director of the Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary studies at San Diego State University. Dr. Kushner's topic was “Solving Medical Mysteries: a Case for Reuniting Science and Society.”

Dr. Robertson received his doctorate in physical chemistry at Princeton in 1942. He retired as senior vice president of Air Products and Chemicals, and has held directorships of Marion Laboratories and C.H. Kline & Company. He is also a trustee of the Midwest Research Institute.
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Departmental News

Dr. Debra Mohler joined the faculty as assistant professor of organic chemistry in the fall of 1999. She grew up in Virginia and earned her bachelor's degree at William and Mary. She obtained her doctoral degree at the University of California Berkeley and did postdoctoral work at Stanford. She then served four years on the faculty at West Virginia University. Her research interests combine organic and organometallic chemistry with materials science and biochemistry.

Timmie Professor Albert Padwa has been named a recipient of an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award for the year 2000. The award will be presented at the 220th ACS National Meeting in Washington, D.C. in August 2000.

Professor Dennis Liotta, vice president for research, will be on sabbatical for the academic year 1999-2000. He requested the leave to devote more time to his research. Over the past three years, Professor Liotta had developed his position and led a variety of initiatives in support of research for the university. Among his endeavors were co-chairing the Woodruff Health Sciences Center research strategic planning process, coordinating with the Georgia Research Alliance, facilitating the acquisition of the Emory West property, initiating the electronic research administration process, expanding funding and support from the University research Committee, restructuring the offices of Sponsored Research and Technology Transfer, and participating in numerous University projects such as Science 2000. In September, 1999 Dennis was named Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry. Professor Lanny Liebeskind then succeeded Dennis as chair of the department.

On May 25, 2000 Dr. Steven Sanderson, Dean of Emory College, announced that Professor Liebeskind had agreed to join the College Administration as Senior Associate Dean, beginning in the fall, 2000. Dean Sanderson said that among his duties would be to give strong science representation at the College and University level; to assess and improve the College's infrastructure in support of sponsored research; to liaise with university-wide science programs, including the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, the Georgia Research Alliance, the Emerson Center for Scientific Computation, BIMCORE, and others; and to enhance Emory's abilities to recruit and retain the best science students and faculty.

In September, 1999 the Emory Report had an article about Emory's signing on with Chemical Abstracts Service to acquire “SciFinder Scholar.” “SciFinder Scholar” provides chemistry faculty and graduate students with easy point-and-click access to the world's largest and most comprehensive databases of chemical information. “Response by users in the Chemistry Library and chemistry department has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Chemistry Librarian Donna Hudson. “This is the first product that has really made electronic searching of Chemical Abstracts within the realm of the majority of graduate students, and certainly the undergraduates,” she added.

The Emory Magazine, Winter 2000, had an article called “The Emory Century.” It was a compilation of the most significant events at Emory in the last hundred years. One of the events in the 1940's read as follows:

1948 – The first Ph.D. degree is awarded at Emory to Thomas P. Johnston in chemistry. Johnston's doctoral research was directed by Professor of Chemistry Osborne R. Quayle, who organized and directed Emory's inaugural Ph.D. program. R.A. Day, `36-`37G, professor emeritus of chemistry, writes, “Dr. Quayle's tireless efforts over many years certainly made a significant change in the history of the University.” J. Jack Kirkland `48AB-`49MS-`74DSc writes, “One of the greatest moments in Emory's history was when Dr. Quayle was hired....[Quayle's] wise, strong efforts and winning personality drew together a cadre of faculty members that set the pace towards a program in chemistry that is now recognized as one of the finest in the country.”
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Faculty Update
Honors and Awards

Herty Medal. J. Sam Guy, Osborne R. Quayle, Jacob Goldstein, Albert Padwa, Fred Menger and Lanny Leibeskind (2002)

Charles H. Stone Award. Jacob Goldstein and Craig Hill

Guggenhein Fellow. Albert Padwa

Emory Williams Award for Distinguished Teaching. R.A. Day, Dennis Liotta, Ronald C. Johnson, David J. Goldsmith, Joseph B. Justice

Cuttino Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Ronald C. Johnson

Winship Distinguished Research Professorship. Joseph B. Justice

Arts and Sciences Award of Distinction, 2001. R.A. Day
Chaired Professors

Charles Howard Candler. Fred Menger

Samuel Candler Dobbs. Joel Bowman, Craig Hill, Lanny Liebeskind, Dennis Liotta, Luigi Marzilli

Robert Woodruff. Meng Chan Lin

William Patterson Timmie. Albert Padwa

William Henry Emerson. Keiji Morokuma
Retirements

Charles T. Lester, R.A. Day, Jacob H. Goldstein, H. Lawrence Clever, Arthur L. Underwood, Clarence G. Trowbridge and Ronald C. Johnson.

The 1994 Newsletter carried these comments on the recent retirements of Larry Clever and Art Underwood:

Larry Clever retired at the end of the 1992 academic year. After obtaining his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Ohio State University and a brief sojourn at Duke, Larry joined the Emory faculty in 1954. He became Professor of Chemistry in 1965. As many of you know, Larry is an authority of worldwide reputation in the area of solubility and an expert in the study of multiphase, multicomponent systems. Larry spent sabbatical leaves at both the University of Michigan and the University of Massachusetts. He has been, as well, an active participant in international meetings, and he serves on commissions on solubility of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Last year he went to Moscow for a meeting of the solubility commission, and then visited St. Petersburg and Helsinki.

Over the years Larry has been a dedicated teacher at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Although he has taught virtually every course in the department (except for organic chemistry), in recent years he has principally taught Physical Chemistry and introductory General Chemistry. His lectures have always been models of clarity and organization, and Larry has a well-deserved reputation as a meticulous and demanding teacher.

Art Underwood came to Emory in 1952 as an Assistant Professor. He became Professor of Chemistry in 1962, retiring at the end of the 1993-94 academic year. Art's background was in both analytical chemistry and biochemistry. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Rochester in 1951 after a stint in the US Navy. Following that he was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT in analytical chemistry.

Art has been a mainstay of our teaching program and in recent years he taught both undergraduate analytical and introductory biochemistry. A testament to his expertise in both the subject matter as well as the way in which to teach it is the continuing success of his text, Quantitative Analysis, co-authored with R.A. Day. This book, now in its 6th edition has been a leading text in its field for over 30 years.

Art Underwood has published over seventy-five research articles and he has been invited to speak at numerous important symposia. He has made a number of seminal contributions in diverse areas of chemistry including photometric titrations, electroanalytical chemistry and multidimensional luminescence. During the 1980's he spent his summers at Montana State University doing collaborative research in light scattering.

Jay Justice, Chair of the Chemistry Department, said about Ron Johnson on his retirement in 2001 after 40 years of service, "Ron Johnson has been the mainstay of the undergraduate Chemistry program for many years. The students who have benefitied from his teaching and advising over the years number in the thousands, yet he knew so many of them as individuals."

The Newsletter also reported the retirement of George Bromley, Director of the Electronics Shop. George joined the department in 1973 to organize and operate the electronic shop. Over the years he has worked with a wide variety of instruments. With many of these he had to do almost as much plumbing as electronic repair and design. In recent years George has been instrumental in the design and installation of AppleTalk and Ethernet networks in the department, and he has established a facility for MacIntosh hardware service and software enhancement.
Deaths

Faculty and Staff:
Mrs. Augusta Cooper
William H. (Bill) Jones
Lee Blitch
Charlie Lester
Art Underwood
Leslie Dixon
Mrs. Lee Thorn

Former faculty:
Marion Clark
Earl Royals

Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Faculty and Research Interests (Fall, 1999)
Professors:

Joel M. Bowman, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor, theoretical chemistry: quantum and classical dynamics of molecules and molecule-surface interactions, vibration of molecules, photodissociation and reaction dynamics.

Xiaodong Chen, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in X-Ray Crystallography, joint appointment with biochemistry: protein crystallography, protein-DNA interaction, DNA base flipping, DNA, RNA, protein methylation.

Dale E. Edmonson, joint appointment with biochemistry: physical biochemistry, oxidation-reduction enzymes.

David J. Goldsmith, organic chemistry: total synthesis of natural products, synthetic methods, stereochemistry.

Michael Heaven, physical chemistry: laser spectroscopy of reactive intermediates, radioactive lifetimes and energy transfer dynamics, kinetics of lasing processes, photodissociation mechanisms.

Craig L. Hill, Goodrich C. White Professor, inorganic chemistry: homogeneous catalysis, electrochemistry, photochemistry, light to chemical energy conversion, antiviral agents, biotechnology.

Ronald C. Johnson, Director of Undergraduate studies, inorganic chemistry: transition metal chemistry, reaction mechanisms.

Joseph B. Justice, neurochemistry, analytical chemistry

Myron Kaufman, physical chemistry: chemical kinetics, diamond deposition, combustion.

Lanny Liebeskind, Chair, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor and Director, Faculty Science Council, organic chemistry: organometallic chemistry, natural product synthesis.

M.C. Lin, Robert W. Woodruff Professor, physical chemistry: gas-surface reactions, catalytic processes, combustion kinetics, ab initio MO calculations for gas-phase and gas-surface reactions.

Dennis Liotta, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor and Vice President for Research, organic chemistry: new synthetic methodology, drug design and development.

Luigi G. Marzilli, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor, inorganic chemistry: metal species in biology and medicine, transition metal and organometallic compounds.

Fred M. Menger, Charles Howard Candler Professor, organic chemistry: mechanisms of biologically important reactions, enzyme models, membranes, micelles, polymers, films, synthesis of new amphiphilic molecules.

Keiji Morokuma, William Henry Emerson Professor, theoretical chemistry: potential energy surfaces for reactions in the gas phase, inorganic chemistry and inorganometallic chemistry.

Albert Padwa, William Patterson Timmie Professor, organic chemistry: synthesis and properties of unusual molecules, organic photochemistry, heterocyclic chemistry, drug design, reaction mechanisms, applications of molecular orbital theory, new synthetic methods.
Associate Professors:

Karl S. Hagen, Director of Graduate studies, inorganic chemistry: metal cluster synthesis, catalysis, bioinorganic chemistry, X-ray crystallography and crystal engineering.

Frank E. McDonald, organic chemistry: development of new reagents, catalysts, and strategies for synthetic chemistry.

Assistant Professors:

Vince P. Conticello, materials chemistry: synthesis, characterization and applications of materials with controlled microstructures, particularly biomaterials.

Tianquan Lian: physical chemistry: femtosecond laser spectroscopic study of ultrafast dynamics in chemical systems, biomolecules, and nanomaterials.

Debra L. Mohler, organic chemistry: synthesis and characterization of organic and organometallic materials, particularly nanostructures; bioorganic chemistry, and development of synthetic methods.

Kermit Murray, analytical chemistry: matrix assisted laser ionization mass spectrometry, structural characterization of macromolecules.

Adjunct Professor:

Guillermo A. Iacobucci, organic chemistry

Senior Lecturers:

Josko Jerkunica, general chemistry

Pretha Ram, general, analytical, physical, and biochemistry
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
Dedication of the New Building

The Cherry Logan Emerson Hall was dedicated on Tuesday, April 17, 2001. The program was as follows:

Cherry Logan Emerson Hall Dedication
April 17, 2001
11:00 A.M.

Presiding
Ben F. Johnson III, Chair, Board of trustees

Invocation
The Reverend Susan Henry-Crowe, Dean of the Chapel and Religious Life

Remarks
Rosemary M. Magee, `82G, Senior Associate Dean of Emory College
David J. Goldsmith, Professor of Chemistry
William M. Chace, President

Response
Cherry Logan Emerson
Notes on the Facility

Cherry Logan Emerson Hall is the first new component of the Emory Center for the Physical Sciences. Named for Cherry Emerson – a distinguished alumnus and longtime benefactor of both the sciences and the arts at Emory – Emerson Hall will house new research initiatives in chemistry, plus two programs each in physics and mathematical/computer science. The Emerson Center for Scientific Computing, previously housed in Atwood Hall, has moved to new and enlarged quarters in Emerson Hall. In addition, the Integrated Microscopy and Microanalytical Facility (IMMF) and a high field nuclear resonance (NMR) laboratory are also located in this facility.

Reflecting the need for integrative, multidisciplinary approaches to the solution of contemporary problems, Cherry Logan Emerson Hall provides research and teaching opportunities for new and developing programs in the physical sciences. Laboratories and supporting facilities will be provided for faculty, research students, and postdoctoral research in new areas for which little space has been available. Emphasis will be placed on chemistry that focuses on the preparation and understanding of potentially useful new materials and on the continuing increase of our understanding of biology at the molecular level. With programs in physics having the same general focus, the opportunities for collaborative research will be many. In similar fashion, both the Emerson Center and the programs in mathematics/computer science will be able to develop ideas of joint interest and to interact with the experimental programs in chemistry and physics.

In addition to the research laboratories and the IMMF and NMR facilities, Emerson Hall has offices for faculty and administrative staff, as well as classrooms to support the academic programs of Emory College. Reflecting the education and research components of the arts and sciences tradition, the design of Emerson hall mirrors both the traditional Emory style of red tile roofs and the modernistic glass and functional design of Atwood Hall. That integration is reflected in the utilization of the building as well, given that classrooms for the freshman seminar program coexist alongside sophisticated laboratories for research scientists.

The faculty, staff, students and alumni of the University – and especially the departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics/Computer Science – wish to thank Cherry Emerson, whose support, encouragement, and leadership have made this day possible. His vision and unflagging commitment to Emory University will be a continuing inspiration to all who have the opportunity to participate in the science programs at Emerson Hall.

Tours of the building were held following the ceremony. A special luncheon honoring Cherry Logan Emerson was then held in the Winship Ballroom of the Dobbs University Center.

Cherry Emerson and R.A. Day, 1999
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7
End Notes to Chapter 7
Emerson & Cuming, 1948 to 1998

The following is taken from a brochure celebrating 50 years of engineering excellence - the story of the Emerson & Cuming Company.

YOU CAN'T BEAT A MAN WITH AN IDEA AT A LAB BENCH

The last fifty years have seen the world emerge from World War II and explode into technology and industrialization on a global scale, leaping from radar to lasers and from vacuum tubes to semiconductors and never looking back. The last fifty years have also seen the dreams of Cherry Emerson and Bill Cuming help to hold that exploding world together.

The two would meet as young engineers at Monsanto Chemical Company in 1942 and reunite at the end of the war to start Emerson & Cuming, which has pioneered epoxy resin development and today serves the worldwide circuit and component assembly markets with the adhesives, encapsulants, sealing compounds and coatings needed by them to survive. Starting in Bill Cuming's rented room with a fold away bed, they knew what they could do and that they were ready, but had no business plan. How they got to that point says a lot about each of them, the world at that time and the characteristics they would bring to such a long-lasting enterprise.

Cherry Emerson may have come to it through his genes; his grandfather, William Henry Emerson, founded the Georgia Institute of Technology's chemical engineering and chemistry programs, and his father, Cherry L. Emerson, Sr., was Dean of Georgia Tech's School of Engineering. Emerson himself opted for undergraduate and graduate degrees at Emory University, a 1939 master's in organic chemistry and a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (MIT was also where he met his wife, Mary Lewis, daughter of his adviser, Professor Warren K. Lewis.)

Emerson went to work for Monsanto Chemical Company in Everett, Massachusetts, where one day another young engineer, just out of Stevens Institute of Technology, showed up at the same boarding house of Mrs. MacGee. His name was William R. Cuming (Bill). Before the year was out, he joined the Navy and was sent to the new top secret Navy radar school on the waterfront in Boston. Upon graduation, he was sent to the Pacific serving as radar officer on the USS Gambier Bay. When it was sunk by gunfire in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, he drifted in the Pacific for two days before being picked up by American forces. After the war he used the GI bill to graduate from Harvard Business School in 1947. Cuming and Emerson (who remained at Monsanto supervising ethyl alcohol production) had kept in touch. In 1948 they took the plunge and established Emerson & Cuming Co. Eventually, the company was incorporated and became Emerson & Cuming, Inc. Their knowledge and courage were strong and the times were with them. They became chemical and engineering consultants. The timing was indeed right. The war had spawned new discoveries in electronics and applied sciences, and in the postwar years government and private industry were struggling to keep up the pace and learn how to use what had been found. Once they got started as consultants, Emerson and Cuming worked on many different things.

One of the most rewarding experiences was with Harvard Medical School. Through Professor Walter Whitman at MIT, they met Dr. Edwin J. Cohn. Chairman of the Physical Chemistry Department of the medical school. He was tackling blood handling processes. Thus began a relationship with the school, which led to Emerson & Cuming's development of a centrifuge for continuous processing of human blood. Throughout World War II, Dr. Cohn had been in charge of blood plasma work, which saved thousands of lives.

It was through the office of Mr. Herbert W. Kenway (whose firm Kenway & Jenny were patent attorneys for MIT) that they met Clarence Birdseye, the inventor of the quick freezing process for foods. At that time, he had a small pilot plant north of Boston and was attempting to produce a fine writing paper from sugar cane pulp. Emerson & Cuming performed R&D for Mr. Birdseye. The project was to take various pulps, which he produced, using a superheated water-flash process and attempt, by modification, to create superior writing paper. This process, with modification, became modestly successful in South America and was taken over by W.R. Grace before its acquisition of Emerson & Cuming, Inc.

At the same time they were working on a project to produce a superior picker stick for a manufacturer in Connecticut who was a supplier to operators of weaving looms. The standard of the day was a hickory wood picker stick (the part of the loom which throws the shuttle, with its thread, back and forth through the strands of yarn as they are being woven into the fabric). The life of a hickory picker stick was a few days (sometimes hours).

They quickly designed, developed and produced glass fiber, resin impregnated picker sticks which, when used in a loom, lasted for a month or more. This revolutionized weaving at the time and gave a great advantage to the manufacturer of the sticks, producing millions of them at a considerable profit.

It was this case which determined the future of Emerson & Cuming. “If we can do this for others, we can do it for ourselves.” By the beginning of 1953, Emerson & Cuming had become a healthy business, having expanded from consulting engineering into manufacturing.

Cuming's work at the Navy radar school and Emerson's MIT history brought many opportunities while the electronic industry, Raytheon, Sylvania and others, was coming to life. They didn't know what their product lines would be, but with their chemical and mechanical backgrounds, they never doubted that they could find what was needed. Their investigations were in the direction of encapsulating compounds, coatings, adhesives and dielectric materials. This led to their first lab on Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, where they began formulating a variety of resins. Donald Wells, a friend from Monsanto days and at the time working for Shell Chemical, presented a line of newly introduced epoxy resins. They modified and reformulated them to develop a wide range of Emerson & Cuming epoxy products.

Cuming was in the Naval Reserve, spending two weeks a year in Washington, DC at the Navy's Bureau of Ships. This led Emerson and Cuming into microwave technology. There was a growing interest in electronics on the part of the defense industry and he was able to learn about the need for microwave absorbers. This, coupled with his understanding of radar, enabled the company to help when the Navy and Air Force began looking at radar camouflage (the beginning of the Stealth program) in the early 1950's. In addition the company developed numerous encapsulating compounds, coatings, adhesives and dielectric materials.

The work of the firm with the Naval Research Laboratory continued to grow. A professor at Brown University had conceived of a spherical, optical lens later named after him, a Luneberg lens. Some people in the Naval Research Laboratory became interested in adapting the Luneberg lens to a microwave lens. It was made of plastic foam shells, each one of a specific dielectric constant. Since its design enables a microwave feed located on the surface of the lens to create a plane wave diametrically opposite that feed, it is useful both in receiving and transmitting microwave energy. Thousands of these lenses and reflective devices derived from lenses were eventually produced.

In one of its large gambles, Emerson & Cuming purchased patents and technical information from the Standard Oil Company of Ohio concerning a partially developed product of theirs called “Microballoons.” From this came a new composite of glass microballoons in epoxy resin known as syntactic foam. This new syntactic foam was found to have important applications. It could withstand high pressure, but was lightweight, thereby providing underwater buoyancy and proved useful to companies such as Esso and Shell for oil rig and marine applications. Eventually, Emerson & Cuming set up a flotation department, which produced materials for the offshore oil industry. This department exists today as Emerson & Cuming Composites, an independent company.

As the firm grew, it had to look outside Boston for more space. In 1952 they bought their first piece of real estate, the back section of a plant at 869 Washington Street in Canton. MA, some 13,000 square feet in size.

During the next several years, Emerson & Cuming built its reputation and it looked to establishing overseas operations to serve world markets. The first were in Belgium and England in the early 1960's, followed in the 1970's by expansion into Japan. This start was with a sales office operation in Yokohama, headed by “Ike” Ikegami. The Japanese legal regulations were such that in order to develop a new business, it was necessary to buy a yen-based company, which they found and bought. It was a profitable independent company where Ike was employed. To begin manufacturing, the challenge was land. They needed three acres, but discovered that the land on Honshu (the Japanese island on which the city of Tokyo is located) would cost $1.5 million dollars per acre and, in addition, a plant there would cost $3 million with equipment. Right away they would need $4.5 million. They determined that the northern Island of Hokkaido was a good place to look. They found an excellent site where they could buy land for $50,000 an acre. They build a 30,000 square foot plant, all for $450,000. In six months they were shipping products and in a year they were fully operational.

Ultimately, Emerson & Cuming, Inc. owned a total of eight manufacturing plants: four in the United States, two in England, one in Belgium, and one in Japan. Two of their most prestigious innovations were ceramic microballoons which, among other things, makes up the basic ingredient of the NASA heat shield and microwave absorbing materials of all kinds, including absorbers used in the US Air Force Stealth program. But don't forget, EPOXIES PAVED THE WAY!

In 1978 Bill and Cherry agreed to sell Emerson & Cuming, Inc. to W.R. Grace & Co. In 1980, Emerson retired and Cuming left to found Cuming Corporation which manufactures radar absorbers and underwater buoyancy material for offshore oil industry. The Emerson & Cuming business became part of Grace's Polymer and Electronics Material unit, and was later known as Grace Specialty Polymers.

Cuming created, in Norton, MA, what would become the largest collection of birds in New England, featuring more than 2,000 birds ranging from pheasants and waterfowl to penguins and storks. He directed this bird farm for five years while waiting for his noncompete contract with Grace to expire.

Emerson returned to his hometown Atlanta in 1985 and renewed his contacts at Emory University, Georgia Tech and also MIT. He endowed the William Henry Emerson Chair of Chemistry at Emory and founded Emory's Emerson Center for Computational Science, a super computing facility that conducts advanced research in chemistry, physics and mathematics. At Georgia Tech, he founded the William Henry Emerson Graduate Fellowship Program in Chemistry and, at MIT, he and Mary were principals in the rebuilding of the music library now named for her mother, Rosalind Denny Lewis.

Cuming funded the Materials Laboratory and the Design Laboratory at Stevens. Both Emerson and Cuming received honorary doctorates from their respective alma maters.

Bill Cuming married in 1957. He and his wife Ruth have one son, John, who in turn is married.

In 1997, the name of Emerson & Cuming would return to the company they founded, following the purchase of Grace Specialty Polymers by National Starch and Chemical Company. Today, fifty years later, the firm is known as Emerson & Cuming.

Emerson often said that “a man with an idea working at a lab bench is the root of progress.” That was exactly how they started and what followed was history.
Return to Beginning of Chapter 7