Augsburg College - Augsburg Now

Sandra Olmsted ’69, associate professor of chemistry, often wonders what her former classmates and students are doing in the field and what she can learn from them.

Sherry Jennings-King, director of corporate, foundation, and government relations, has wondered, in her new job, how she could gain entree to major area corporations to build institutional relationships with the College. She happens to have a degree in chemical engineering.

So, they teamed up. Olmsted identified Augsburg chemistry alumni working at area corporations, and the duo visited them for lunch and conversation. Olmsted and Jennings-King's agendas were different—Olmsted was anxious to hear what the alums could tell her about new and changing skills in the workplace and, from their perspectives, what emerging trends might impact Augsburg's chemistry curriculum. Jennings-King was hoping to build bridges that would help bring internships, partnerships, and financial support to Augsburg.

In meeting the alumni, Olmsted says it opened her eyes to new and emerging opportunities for her students, especially in the combination of chemistry with other disciplines. One grad they visited combined chemistry with computer science. He writes software that runs hospital instruments and allows them to communicate across distances, enabling doctors in remote locations to access medical data and follow patient progress. He says his knowledge of how chemistry works in the body makes him a better software engineer because he can understand the data in more depth.

One person they visited is Dean Malotky ’71, vice president and principal at Barr Engineering. In his 25 years there he has been in on the ground level to develop assessment and remediation methods for waste disposal sites. Serving as an expert witness in court, he helps resolve legal battles fought over the extent of liability and share of cleanup costs that companies are assessed.

He tells of a big case in New Jersey where three major companies had to divide up the total cost of cleanup. Malotky's job was to look at five or six different chemical manufacturing facilities to evaluate their products and by-products, as well as the raw materials that went into each facility, to determine the extent to which they contributed to contamination.

Earlier in his tenure at Barr, Malotky helped write the specifications for analysis of samples at the companies where they were outsourced, in order to ensure accuracy.

After Augsburg, Malotky says he felt well prepared to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since joining Barr Engineering, he has helped the company grow from 40 employees to over 350 and win several awards as a good place to work.

Shannon Hess, associate chemist at Aveda, graduated in 2000 and told Olmsted and Jennings-King, "I've loved my job since the day I started two-and-a-half years ago."

Her work at Aveda, a cosmetics company whose vision is "connecting beauty, environment, and well-being," is challenging because of the strict guidelines for using only naturally-derived materials. She explains that instead of using synthetic raw materials, Aveda chemists must try to replicate the benefits and performance with naturally derived and organic raw materials.

Hess' work is to acquire new organic essential oils for fragrance formulas. She is in daily communication with suppliers, who may be companies in England, South Africa, Australia, or lavender farmers in France. Aveda also buys natural products from indigenous groups around the world, trying to understand and incorporate use of their raw materials as they are used in their cultures.

At Augsburg, a plant biology course with recently-retired Prof. Esther McLaughlin sparked Hess' interest in Aveda and its commitment to environmental issues. She says that awareness of wellness is something she works with every day, "thinking about what you put on your skin and in your body."

While her plans may include graduate school some day, her work at Aveda is giving her the experience she wants to advance her career in the personal care industry.

Jonathan DeVries ’68 is a technical manager at the Medallion Laboratories division of General Mills. For almost 26 years he has been in the forefront of understanding, developing analytical methods, and building standards for certain nutritional and food safety guidelines. His work has centered on the information consumers read on the nutritional labels of foods they eat, with extra emphasis on the term "dietary fiber."

Prior to the 1980s, "crude fiber" was the basic nutrition label, but this excluded a significant portion of healthy dietary fibers in the foods. DeVries was instrumental in standardizing the definition of dietary fiber and in standardizing and validating methods of extraction and analysis for generating nutritional labels, working through the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (now AOAC INTERNATIONAL), which established international guidelines for their usage.

DeVries credits professor emeritus John Holum for emphasizing a solid scientific foundation and process for continual learning, rather than the specific body of chemistry learned. DeVries would advise students not to worry too much about computer and other technology that will change, but to "master the learning process and the basics of the subject area, and to look at all the data at their disposal before drawing conclusions."

From these three chemistry alumni and others, the feedback Olmsted heard already has brought changes to the way chemistry majors are taught. First, a new section of a speech course that focuses on how to present technical information and research, including making presentations to various audiences, is being developed.

Second, the four-semester chemistry seminar for juniors and seniors has been revamped to be of greater value to what students can expect after they leave Augsburg. Students will also get more hands-on experience in using instruments. Olmsted says students need to feel comfortable about the kinds of instruments they may encounter in the workplace—not only how to use them, but also how to interpret the data. "This will prepare them to be functioning chemists as well as functioning grad students," she says.

Olmsted also heard alumni speak about the importance of understanding the patent process, especially important for students pursuing studies in public research institutions where protection of research is paramount.

Jennings-King has seen benefits as well. When she submits proposals and companies ask how engaged Augsburg alumni at their company are, Jennings-King can report confidently on their meetings. The College has established new internships with these companies and received in-kind donation of equipment as well.

Olmsted and Jennings-King plan to continue their visits with area chemistry alumni. Jennings-King has already told Olmsted that it's time to hit the road again.