Faculty
Faculty Awards
Qiang (Jack) Zhang, voted Professor of the Year by the students of the Department of Chemistry for excellence in academic year 2023.
Faculty Promotions
Fall 2023
Brian Clowers, full professor
Xiaofeng Guo (tenure track), promoted to associate professor with tenure
Pete Reilly, full professor
Fall 2024
Qiang (Jack) Zhang, (tenure track), promoted to associate professor with tenure
Krista Nishida, teaching associate professor, career track
Faculty Time in Service–Thank you for your hard work, integrity, and dedication to the Department of Chemistry
- K.W. Hipps (1972–2022)—50 years
- Cliff Berkman (2007–2022)—15 years
- James Brozik (2007–2022)—15 years
- Michael Finnegan (1997–2022)—25 years
- Ursula Mazur (1978–2023)—45 years
- Chulhee Kang (1993–2023)—30 years
- Brian Clowers (2013–2023)—10 years
- Paul Buckley (2013–2023)—10 years
- Xiaofeng Guo (2018–2023)—5 years
Farewell
Louis Scudiero
Louis Scudiero, clinical professor of chemistry and materials science, retired from WSU in July of 2023. Louis is a French citizen who met, and later married, a Sunnyside, Washington girl, Maria Villanueva, while on vacation in England in 1985. Louis started technical college in France in 1981, but after only a year, he left school to join the French army for 18 months. In 1984, he completed a two-year technology degree and started work with Spie-Trindel, a French engineering firm. He then joined the French Institute of Research for Steel and Iron in 1988, working there until he left France in 1990. While working, he went to night school at the University of Metz and completed a four-year physics instrumentation degree.
By 1991, Louis was convinced that he needed an advanced degree in order to satisfy his excitement for research. He and Maria returned to Washington State to pursue that dream. Although Louis was immediately accepted into graduate school in engineering, he elected to work on a physics degree—which required that he take several undergraduate courses. During that first year at WSU, he helped support his family by working for Professor K. W. Hipps helping to build a scanning tunneling microscope. He then started his MS research with Professor J. T. Dickinson, which he completed in 1995. From then until 1998, Louis worked as instrument operator for the then new Multi-Technique Electron Spectroscopy Instrument—under the joint direction of Professor Hipps and Dickinson. By 1999, Louis knew he wanted a PhD and was admitted to the interdisciplinary Materials Science Program with Professor Hipps as his dissertation mentor. After completing his PhD, he, his wife, and two children traveled across the US to work for Analytical Answers Inc. in Woburn, MA.
But the call of the Palouse was too strong, and in 2003, he returned to WSU to take a position as an instructor in the physical chemistry laboratory. Louis was always looking to do more. He not only did an excellent job of running and improving the PChem lab, he was the primary instrument trainer for several pieces of scientific instruments, and he started his own research program. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a full clinical professor of chemistry and of materials science (2017) and won the College Teaching Award along the way.
Professor Scudiero was well liked by his students and was always available to assist them. Somehow, he also found time to be a successful researcher and principal investigator on several federal grants. He is an author or co-author on more than 110 publications, and Google Scholar indicates that he has been cited more than 4,500 times and has an enviable h-index of 34.
During their time at WSU, Louis and Maria were blessed with two wonderful children: Chanel and Marcello. They also managed to juggle schedules so that Maria could complete a BA in French with a minor in Spanish and apparel merchandizing and textiles. Louis and Maria now live in the Seattle area where they are starting a tennis school.
Emeritus
Professor Jeff Joswig Jones retired in December 2022 and now holds the title of emeritus in our department. He began his career at Washington State University in 1998 as a professor of organic and medicinal chemistry. Upon his arrival in Pullman, he quickly established an active research laboratory funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health. His research focused on drug metabolism and drug-drug interactions, aiming to improve the lives of people who depend on medication.
Throughout his career, Professor Jones trained many successful PhD students who have since taken on roles in academia and industry. He regularly taught our first-semester organic chemistry class, Chem 345, where students appreciated his teaching style. Additionally, his crucial role in reforming the undergraduate organic chemistry curriculum significantly increased equity and access for many students.
Professor Jones’s contributions have profoundly impacted our department, shaping its future direction and success. His dedication to research, teaching, and curriculum reform has enhanced the quality of education we provide and positioned our department for continued growth. We wish Professor Jones and his spouse, Carolyn Joswig Jones, a happy and well-deserved retirement.