Sean Decatur, assistant
professor of chemistry at Mount Holyoke and winner of a Faculty Early
Career Development (CAREER) Program grant. The National Science
Foundation (NSF) has awarded a prestigious Faculty Early Career
Development (CAREER) Program grant to Sean Decatur, MHC assistant
professor of chemistry. CAREER awards annually support exceptionally
promising college and university junior faculty who are committed to
the integration of research and education. Decatur's grant is for
$406,590 through January 31, 2004, and was given through the NSF's
Experimental Physical Chemistry Program. Considered a premier NSF
program, CAREER awards emphasize the early development of academic
careers in which the excitement of research is enhanced by inspired
teaching and enthusiastic learning. CAREER awardees form the
nomination pool from which the NSF selects the Presidential Early
Career Awards for Scientist and Engineers, the highest United States
government honor bestowed upon scientists and engineers beginning
their independent careers. In the past, Decatur has
received support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NSF,
and the Dreyfus Foundation. In addition to his research, some of
Decatur's grants have gone toward course curriculum and laboratory
improvement, curriculum integration, and instrumentation. A member of the MHC faculty
since 1995, Sean Decatur specializes in the study of how protein
molecules fold--a biological process that is fundamental to life and
that plays a crucial role in energy production, metabolism, and the
use of DNA information. His experiments, which apply physical
chemistry to the biology of the protein's folding process, transcend
the boundaries of biology, chemistry, and physics. Scientists know that proteins
start as long amino acid chains and that they transform into
three-dimensional shapes. How this transformation occurs and the way
in which this change is linked to the protein's function is Decatur's
research focus. Currently, research indicates that a mishap in this
transformation process is linked to diseases such as Alzheimer's
disease. In Alzheimer's, for example, misfolded proteins create
fibers, or plaque, that destroy brain cells. Decatur's study of how
proteins fold may help pave the way for a cure. In order to understand the
fundamental relationship between a protein's structure and its
function (or job within the living system), Decatur builds and uses
simple protein models that fold into helical shapes and uses infrared
spectroscopy to monitor the molecular transition. The chemist is also notable
for his curricular innovations, his extracurricular contributions on
campus (he is the co-organizer of the Race and Science series
that got under way in March and will continue through April), and his
dedication to the learning and development of undergraduates. Decatur
works closely with MHC students. In 1999, Biochemistry and the
Journal of the American Chemical Society published papers by
the chemist that were coauthored with his students. During the 1998 -
99 academic year, he received NIH money to support a minority
undergraduate student involved in his research. His current NSF
CAREER grant will provide undergraduates with summer lab experience
through 2003. These chemistry students will synthesize and purify
proteins and perform spectroscopic measurements. Interested in curricular
initiatives, Decatur is creating new learning opportunities for MHC
students. This semester, he is offering Biotechnology: Science,
Culture, and Ethics, a new course designed for science and nonscience
majors. It tackles current topics in the media that concern science,
such as cloning, bioengineered food, the human genome project, and
gene therapy. Science majors will be able to take a step back to see
the larger social, ethical, and political questions that surround
their fields, while nonscience majors will have the chance to learn
about the scientific concepts that are basic to these issues. In addition, Decatur and
chemistry professors Helen Leung and Donald Cutter are working
together to design an innovative lab-based course for chemistry
majors, which will be offered in fall 2000. The chemists will team
teach the class, each scientist contributing his or her expertise in
a subdiscipline of chemistry. Traditionally, in advanced chemistry
classes students learn one form of experimentation in isolation. In
this class, students will carry out lab work that integrates
techniques from subdisciplines. This approach will better simulate
what chemists do as professionals in the lab, where real-world
research problems demand the simultaneous application of multiple
techniques and skills. The course will also encourage students to
work independently and to develop presentation skills, through
writing research proposals and formal lab reports. Decatur received his B.A.
from Swarthmore College in 1990 and was awarded his Ph.D. in
chemistry from Stanford University in 1995.
About Sean Decatur
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