Wooster Experience Makes Lasting Impression on Stacey Dean

WOOSTER, Ohio – A chance encounter with longtime professor of chemistry Ted Williams in the summer of 2000 led to a dramatic change in plans for Stacey Dean. A high school junior at the time, Dean had already paid her deposit at another Ohio college when she first visited The College of Wooster five years ago, but she quickly revised her strategy after meeting with Williams.

"We had finished our tour and decided to take one more look at the chemistry building when we ran into Dr. Williams," remembers Dean, now a senior from Middleburg Heights, Ohio. "He talked to us about the college, the department, the classes, and the research opportunities. He spoke very openly and honestly; then he showed us all the labs. I was completely blown away that he would spend that much time with someone he had just met. I made up my mind that day that I was coming to Wooster."

Within weeks of her arrival on campus in the fall of 2001, Dean and her classmates were shaken by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, but she remembers it as a moment in which everyone seemed to come a little closer together. "One thing I noticed early on was the sense of community at Wooster," she says. "After 9/11, we knew our class would be linked together forever by our memories of that day."

As the days passed and the campus settled back into a normal routine, Dean found herself spending more and more time in Severance Hall, which was still glistening from an $11 million renovation that transformed an aging building into a state-of-the-art center for the study of chemistry two years earlier.

"I knew that I wanted to major in chemistry since my sophomore year in high school," says Dean. "To have an opportunity to do so at Wooster in a facility like Severance was like a dream come true."

Dean credits small classes, access to equipment, availability of professors, and, of course, Independent Study (I.S.) for what she describes as an exceptional educational experience at Wooster. "I am not a 4.0 student, but I have been able to excel here in and out of the classroom because of the personal touch," she says. "The individual attention received from the outstanding professors has really helped to keep me on track. A network of support, from friends, mentors, and professors, here at Wooster forms early, and that has kept me motivated and encouraged me to keep working hard."

One of her mentors, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Paul Edmiston, has monitored Dean’s progress from the beginning. "I have seen Stacey grow leaps and bounds as a scientist during her four years at Wooster," he said. "Instead of simply doing experiments, she now designs them. Like most Wooster students, her professional skills are combined with a great capacity to work with her peers, which is truly how great science is done."

Dean’s passion for research has led her to spend the last two summers in the lab, including this past year at The University of Michigan, where she came to realize just how fortunate she was to be at Wooster. "I took for granted that first-year students had access to all types of instrumentation," says Dean, who also serves as a resident assistant and treasurer of the chemistry club at Wooster. "At a place like Michigan, you have to wait until your sophomore or junior year. I was also excited to find out that I already knew how to use the equipment, while many of the students from other larger schools were still learning."

The most rewarding aspect of Dean’s experience at Wooster, however, has been I.S. (Wooster’s Senior Independent Study, a senior thesis project required of all students, which enables them to explore a topic of interest while working one-on-one with a member of Wooster’s faculty). "The great thing about I.S. is that the longer you have been here and the more time you spend going through the process, the less frightening it is," says Dean. "At first it was absolutely intimidating, but then I realized how valuable it would be in preparation for graduate school."

Dean’s topic, "Molecularly Imprinted Sol-Gel Films as a Molecular Recognition Element for a Chemical Sensor to Detect Gas Phase Trinitrotoluene," may sound complicated, but it has a very important present-day application. "What I am trying to do," she says, "is create materials to act as chemical sensors to detect TNT. Ideally, this would give security and law-enforcement officials an opportunity to locate the explosive before it is detonated."

After completing I.S., Dean’s next objective will be to choose where she wants to go to graduate school, and her list of options – Penn State, Ohio State, and Northwestern – is most impressive. "I’m planning to pursue a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry with an emphasis on material science," she says. "Originally, I thought about teaching in higher education, but because of my experience at Wooster, I have decided that I really love being in the lab. I hope to someday do research in industry."

While the future holds enormous promise for Dean, she has mixed emotions about the end of her four-year journey. "Wooster has prepared me very well for a career in both chemistry and in life," she says. "I have had an amazing time here. Leaving will not be easy."