Page 8 - Eureka-2013

carleton.ca/chemistry By Susan Hickman Chemistry

“I wasn’t applying for jobs at the
hen Maria DeRosa walked
Winto the chemistry department
doing my post-doc, the chemistry chair
of her alma mater as a professor, time,” recalls DeRosa. “But while I was
rather than as a student, the first [Gerald Buchanan at the time] told me
thing she noticed was the smell. about an ad for a faculty position as a
No, not chemicals, but the scent of professor in bio-inorganic, which was
familiarity, the scent of being home. unique enough that it seemed built for
DeRosa first set foot on Carleton’s me.” DeRosa successfully landed the
campus in 1995, where she completed post in 2005.
her Bachelor of Science degree and “When I came in for my interview,
went on to graduate school, earning a I was surprised by how much had
PhD in inorganic chemistry in 2003. actually changed in the department
She then moved to California to in such a short period of time. There
pursue a post-doctoral fellowship were new hires, such as professors
in DNA chemistry at the California Sean Barry and Anatoli Ianoul, a new Professor Maria DeRosa is photographed in her lab
Institute of Technology, never nanotechnology stream, and a new for a recruitment publication.
leaving behind her dream of one day sense of pride in the department. “Ours is a mid-size department,”
returning to Canada. “I was worried it might be awkward she explains, “one that is big
What she didn’t expect was that her working with faculty members as an enough that we have access to great
Canadian homecoming would involve equal rather than as a student. But facilities with experts in a number
Carleton’s chemistry department, and those worries quickly dissipated.” of areas, but small enough that we
that it would all fall into place so As a professor, DeRosa now sees the know our students’ classes are not
easily. department as a whole, much more overwhelmingly big. It really feels
than she did as an undergraduate. like a community.”

obert Burk, the chair of the laboratory experiments he once did
Rdepartment since 2006, has himself, earning some impressive
himself been walking the corridors awards for his teaching efforts along
of the Steacie building since the way.
1975, when he began his studies Having studied or worked with
in chemistry, obtaining first an seven of the former department
undergraduate degree and then a chairs, Burk speaks of the continuity
master’s and a doctorate in inorganic within the department that
analytical chemistry. Like DeRosa, focuses on the rigorous training of
he experienced his teachers become undergraduate students in all fields
colleagues. of chemistry, just as it always has
As head of the department, Burk done.
has had the challenge of overseeing “We take a holistic approach with
the major renewal of the Steacie our students, teaching them to think
building, but he is first and foremost as scientists, so they have a sound
a teacher, lecturing in the same knowledge of all levels of chemistry.
Professor and departmental chair, Robert Burk, rooms where he once sat as a student It’s a hard-wired program that results
began his career at Carleton as a student.
and supervising some of the same in well-rounded graduates.”

8 Summer 2013