Professor Bassam Z. Shakhashiri is in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and contributes to national science education policy and practice. He advocates communicating with the general public through engaging science demonstrations, the web, electronic and print media, radio, television, and — best of all — in person.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

Curiosity! When I was growing up in my native Lebanon, my mother knitted a sweater for me. It was warm and comfortable, but what struck me the most was its bright yellow color. I was curious, and asked lots of questions. What makes it yellow? What is yellow? I was fascinated and started thinking about color in my surroundings. Trees have green leaves and some stay green year round, like the Cedars of Lebanon. The leaves of other trees change color and fall off in autumn, only to reappear, green, in the spring. I received lots of encouragement from my parents and teachers. Later, during my formal education in America, I began to understand more about color and my youthful curiosities were satisfied, but this led to further questions that directed my scholarly investigations. I chose chemistry to help me understand the beautiful complexity of our world.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be — and why?

Political and social activist. I am dedicated to public service and feel that it is important to both advance science and serve society — that is why I went to work in Washington D.C. in the mid-1980s. I was chief education officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF). I led the resurgence of NSF’s science and engineering education programs at all levels after the programs were essentially zeroed out early in the Reagan Administration. I am committed to cultivating creativity and to fostering connectivity among science, the arts and the humanities for the betterment of society. I engage in conversations about the two strongest forces in society: science and religion.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

My research work has expanded beyond developing new chemistry demonstrations for use in classrooms and in public venues to focusing on understanding more deeply how we learn and how we act on what we learn. Our first effort dealt with color, light, vision, and perception and resulted in Volume 5 in our book series (published by the UW Press). Systemically, we are pursuing hearing, touch, taste and smell in collaboration with neuroscientists and other experts. I am devoted to the Wisconsin Idea which is one of the earliest expressions of the obligation of a great university to serve all the people of the state and, by extension, all the people of the world. The goals of our newest program SCIENCE IN MOTION are: fostering community appreciation of science, cultivating creativity, exploring, learning, and sharing the joy of science among youth and adults alike.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with — and why?

It is a toss-up between Plato and Abraham Lincoln. I would want to learn more about Being, knowledge, metaphor, belief, spirituality, and democracy. I would want to learn more about conviction, judgement, respect, public sentiment, war, and forgiveness.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab — and what was it?

I do experiments all the time, both inside the lab and outside the lab, in front of crowds and for small groups. In December of 2016, I held my 47th Annual ‘Once Upon a Christmas Cheery In the Lab of Shakhashiri’ program, a tradition inspired by the great British chemist Michael Faraday. During the live program, my special guests and I do experiments for an audience ranging in age from 5 to 85. I also encourage the audience and the TV viewers to do home experiments we post on my website, at scifun.org.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

Plato’s The Republic. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions — and why?

Roald Hoffmann, a great scientist and a gifted humanist.

Jianjun Cheng is in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and works on synthetic polymeric biomaterials, self-healing polymers, nanomedicine for drug and gene delivery, and chemistry mediated in vivo targeting. Jianjun recently published a paper in Nature Chemistry entitled “Cooperative polymerization of α-helices induced by macromolecular architecture“.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

I had very strong interest in making materials that can work and have cool functions. Since high school, I have also been fascinated by the versatility of organic chemistry. Choosing polymer chemistry and materials science as research directions is an obvious combination of these interests. I was very fortunate that I could build up my career based on my interests.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be — and why?

Probably some of kind of management work or as an entrepreneur, managing a large scale projects or many people to accomplish something big is challenging but would be very interesting. I often feel excited by important things that are not particularly easy to accomplish.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

I am working on an exciting but challenging project now to use small molecule sugar compounds to achieve in vivo cancer specific labeling and targeting. We have validated the concept and published our preliminary studies in Nature Chemical Biology in 2017. Developing this technology towards clinical application is something I hope to push forward in the next five years or so.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with — and why?

Wallace Carothers, who invented nylon. He is one of the greatest polymer chemists ever and his work has changed the world.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab — and what was it?

About 7–8 years ago, trying to do ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides to make polypeptides.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a book full of imagination. The ancient Chinese novel contains tons of plots, many personal and military battles, over one thousand dramatic historical characters, and struggles and strategies of these three states to survive or to achieve dominance over a period of about 100 years. It is arguably the most widely read historical novel ever in China.

For music album, I particularly like the songs from Chinese rock stars Daolang and Wang Feng. Their songs have a ton of power, are very touching, and can go straight to your heart.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions — and why?

Prof. Haifeng Gao at the University of Notre Dame, a young, dynamic and highly respected polymer chemist. His “Chain-Growth Click Polymerization of AB2 Monomers for the Formation of Hyperbranched Polymers with Low Polydispersities in a One-Pot Process” work (Angew Chem 2015, 7631) is very elegant.

Julia Kalow is in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University and works at the interface of organic synthesis and polymer science, developing mechanism-driven approaches to new reactions and materials that can be controlled by light.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

I was initially attracted to the puzzle-solving aspect of my organic chemistry course, but it was my first experience in a research lab (in Jim Leighton’s group at Columbia) that made me want to be a chemist. The thrill of getting a reaction to work, or making a molecule that no one’s ever made before, was addictive.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be — and why?

I really enjoy writing (which is fortunate, since it’s a significant part of my current job), so whatever I would do would probably involve writing in some way. I also love reading fiction. That being said, I don’t think I’d actually want to be a fiction writer — it seems like a lonely profession that requires great self-discipline, and possibly involves even more rejection than being a scientist!

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

There are two main directions in my group right now: one where we’re trying to develop new mechanisms for controlled chain-growth polymerization based on selective photoexcitation, and another program based on developing physical hydrogels that can be controlled (ideally in a reversible manner) by visible light. I hope both projects will lead to new reactions and new materials that are both useful and allow us to learn fundamental lessons about reactivity, polymer physics, and biology.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with — and why?

Humphry Davy sounds fun.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab — and what was it?

I set up a couple Suzuki reactions last week to make authentic product standards for one of our projects, but have yet to purify them!

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

Not a book, but I’ve had a subscription to the New Yorker since college and have amassed a collection of unread back issues that, to my husband and movers’ dismay, I insist on taking with me every time I move. So, I should probably get on that.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions — and why?

I bet Erik Sorensen would have great answers!