Chemistry professor’s journey leads him to national prominence

Daniel J. Mindiola, associate professor of chemistry, recently received the 2009 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, a prestigious honor granted each year to about 20 prominent scientists from around the world.

Although looked up to as “a chemical Mozart” by fellow faculty member and collaborator Mu-Hyun “Mookie” Baik, things were not always so easy for Mindiola.

After receiving a C in his high school chemistry class, Mindiola never dreamed that he would someday become a chemistry professor.

During the next several years, as he attended Michigan State for his undergraduate education and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graduate school, Mindiola cultivated an interest in the field of chemistry that eventually led him to work at IU.

Driven by his desire to discover something new, Mindiola has found research to be just the thing for him. He described it as work that he looks forward to doing every day.

“It’s like this: you want to discover ‘x,’ but en route to ‘x’ you find millions of things that you never thought you’d discover,” he said.

However, there is a downside to research for Mindiola. It is very expensive, and obtaining funds can be highly competitive.

The only way to compete for funding is by staying on top of the material and constantly remaining aware of how the information can be applied to what is going on in the world.

But as a professor and primary investigator for graduate students, Mindiola said it is as though he is learning the material again while nurturing an interest for chemistry within his students.

“He helped me when I had trouble with a technique or to give ideas, but he didn’t hover around like some (primary investigators) do,” said Benjamin Wicker, a graduate student who has been working recently with Mindiola. “This gave me the freedom to pursue ideas on my own, which is what I enjoy most about research.”

By also meeting weekly with the group of graduate students for whom he serves as primary investigator, Mindiola is able to give feedback on their work in addition to presenting his own ideas on their projects.

“I always tell students who are interested in pursuing a career in chemistry to get in the lab and start doing research as early as humanly possible,” he said. “Research is 99 percent failure and 1 percent success, but that 1 percent is worth the 99 percent.”

This passion for chemistry and research might be a good indication as to the reason for Mindiola’s recent success.

“Only the very best scientists in the world are chosen to receive this award, and I am very happy that Dan was recognized for his work,” Baik said in an e-mail.

But the journey is far from over for Mindiola. In addition to the honor he has received, Mindiola will be given the opportunity to work in Germany with some of the finest scientists in the world.

He said he hopes to use the advantage of his trip to help the department and the field as a whole, and looks forward to doing so.

But when asked what he considered his greatest achievement in science, he simply replied, “I don’t know, I’m still waiting for it.”