Vol. 19, No. 22

March 2, 2000

Pioneering UD scientist
earns 4th prestigious award

John F. Rabolt, faculty member and chairperson of materials science engineering, will receive one of science’s most prestigious awards when he is presented the Bomem-Michelson Award from the Coblenz Society at its Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy to be held March 12-17 in New Orleans. The conference is the single largest annual gathering of analytical chemists in the world. The Coblenz Society is a scientific organization focused on furthering excellence in vibrational spectroscopy. This award makes Rabolt the first scientist to win all four awards given by the Coblenz Society. Rabolt is one of the country’s leading scientists in the field of polymer physics. A goal of his research is to develop a searchable database. His work with spectroscopy has had many gratifying results, not the least of which took place in the late 1980s when, as a visiting professor to China, Rabolt brought his newly developed method for analyzing materials to Chinese scientists. But achievements in the field of spectroscopy represent only a facet of Rabolt’s overall work, which employs infrared and raman spectroscopy– alongside many other techniques to analyze polymers. One of the most exciting aspects of Rabolt’s current research is the possibility of bringing polymers into the world of diagnostic medicine. “I foresee a time when a computer chip the size of a piece of dust or a tiny piece of plastic can be swallowed and used to take readings of what’s going on inside the body,” Rabolt said. “The chip will be doing the same kinds of things it does inside the computer, but doing it inside the body. Transmitting information is key.” Rabolt’s fascination with science was born with the launch of Sputnik. In the third grade at the time, he decided that he wanted to be involved with the space program. “It was a magical time,” Rabolt recalled. “There was an excitement, and a sense that you, too, could grow up to be one of those astronauts.” He read about space exploration and took advanced chemistry and physics courses in the hope of becoming an aeronautical engineer. His high school chemistry teacher, Brother Juan Salvador, encouraged him to pursue chemistry and physics as fields in their own right. Following graduate school at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan and the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute for Standards and Technology), Rabolt went to work at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in California, where he was involved in polymer research for 20 years. His time in California also involved an appointment as director of the National Science Foundation Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assembly at Stanford University, where he served from 1994 to 1996. Rabolt came to the University of Delaware in 1996 to create the Department of Materials Science Engineering within the College of Engineering. Moving to Delaware has allowed him to push the connection between microelectronics and biology. It also has given him the opportunity to recruit top researchers from industry and government laboratories, including Bell Labs, Exxon Research and Engineering, the DuPont Co. and the National Institute of Standards and Technologies. Raboldt’s one lingering regret about leaving California is the loss of the country home where he and his wife, research scientist Patricia Cotts, grew grapes and bottled their own wine. For all his honors and his position at the leading edge of science, Rabolt unerringly chooses grounded, familiar terms in presenting his ideas to a non-scientific audience. He reaches easily for the comfortable imagery of the kitchen when he refers to his life’s work and how to impact the young scientists of the future. “I want to present young scientists with what I call a recipe for scientific survival,” he said. “Persistence and working hard in science pays off. I really want young professionals to realize it’s a viable career–and one which offers tremendous opportunities in the 21st century for those who want to work at the interphases between scientific fields.” –Beth Thomas