Two Northwestern chemistry professors, Richard Van Duyne and Chad Mirkin, have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors a scientist can receive. Both members of the chemistry department, the professors work in the field of nanotechnology. The Daily spoke with Van Duyne, who discovered surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, a means for detecting single molecules. Van Duyne talked about his lengthy tenure at NU and how being a member of NAS will affect his future goals.
Excerpts:
Daily: What does being in the NAS do for a scientist?Richard Van Duyne: It certainly gives you access to high-level persons in the government that you might not otherwise have, so I’m hoping that I will be able to influence a few policy decisions.
Daily: Any specific types of policy issues?Van Duyne: The main message is that an investment of $1 in research in general, but certainly scientific and medical research, generally returns between $7 and $10 to the economy, so what do we not understand about a 700 percent return on investment? That message simply isn’t there.
Daily: How does it help you as an NU professor?Van Duyne: Our chemistry department has been working very hard to recruit outstanding women. We have about 12 percent women in our faculty and it should be at least 25 percent, so it’ll be a long, sustained effort. I hope to do my part and this will help to do that. Fortunately our current president sees that, but his time there is limited with respect to the scope of research, so we need to make that very clear. Basically it has been a well-received message here. When President (Henry) Bienen was in charge, things improved dramatically. We have no reason to believe it’s not going to continue.
Daily: How has NU been as a work environment for you?Van Duyne: I feel extremely fortunate to have spent my entire career at Northwestern. I have amazingly wonderful colleagues in the chemistry department, but I’ve met people in virtually all departments that I just find to be excellent colleagues. The administration, too. They are to be congratulated for building the buildings and keeping the lights on and all that kind of good stuff.
Daily: How long have you been here?Van Duyne: Forty years. I’m completing my 40th. I was age 24 when I started.
Daily: How has the chemistry department changed in that time?Van Duyne: The chemistry department has really always been extremely strong. When I joined the department there were rankings that one could go back to-done by the NAS, as it happens-that would have placed us at number 14, 15 or 16, a very respectable spot. Now we’re number seven.
Daily: And how has NU as a whole changed?Van Duyne: The buildings, beautification, it all has been a steady upward march. The quality of the students, too. Some people say, “In my day, ” and that quality has gone down. I’ve only seen improvement. I’m talking not only about my graduate students, but the undergraduate students who I am so lucky to teach. I love teaching undergraduates. They’re just always fun, stimulating, nice people.
