Ignoring the advice of naysayers, Associate Professor of Chemistry Helen O. Leung built her own pulsed molecular beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer and recently won a prestigious Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award to support her work.
Leung recently received validation and support for her work in the form of a 1998 Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award of $60,000 from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. She was one of nine scientists selected from thirty-three nominated. Foundation representatives described Leung as "an extremely strong candidate." The Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar program provides support to young faculty at early stages of their careers in undergraduate education.
The grant will support and enhance Leung's research on intermolecular interactions between nonbonded molecules and will enable her to build another spectrometer; $5,000 of the grant is allocated to MHC's chemistry department. "The award represents years of work building the spectrometer," said Dean of the Faculty Donal O'Shea. "This is the only spectrometer of its type in a college without a Ph.D. program. When built, it was only the sixth in the nation. This award is outrageously prestigious."
Leung first saw a FTMW spectrometer in 1987 when visiting a lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland. A physical chemist who "loves building things," Leung was impressed with the device and began to think about making one. After spending a year researching spectrometers and consulting with colleagues, Leung began the project while teaching at Williams College in 1992. By the time she left Williams in 1993 and arrived at Mount Holyoke with the spectrometer, the apparatus was complete except for the microwave components. The spectrometer was operational by the summer of 1994.
Leung uses the spectrometer to study interactions between weakly bound molecules. She describes her research as an investigation of the fundamental nature of molecular behavior. "If we understand reactions between these molecules, we can build on that knowledge. Someday, we may be able to design our own reactions," she said. Potential but far-off applications of Leung's research may relate to atmospheric phenomena such as acid rain and ozone depletion. The spectrometer enables Leung to perform high-quality experiments. It is also easy to use, so undergraduates can learn quickly how to operate it and can learn spectroscopy and modern research techniques through hands-on experience.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation organization has been supporting Leung's teaching and research since she came to Mount Holyoke. In 1993, she received a $10,000 Faculty Start-Up Grant and in 1995, the foundation awarded Leung a Special Grant of $30,000. With the latter, she is building a conventional microwave spectrometer for use in MHC's labs.
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