Former Powegian earns a national lifetime achievement award

A former Powegian has earned a national lifetime achievement award from the American Chemical Society for her outstanding accomplishments and contributions to science, her profession and ACS.

“It’s very exciting,” said Tammy Dwyer, a University of San Diego chemistry professor who has lived in Sabre Springs since 1996 with her husband, Brian, and their two now-grown children.

Dwyer was chosen to be one of 65 ACS Fellows for 2017 from among the society’s 157,000-plus members. It is the world’s largest scientific society. The award ceremony was held on Aug. 21 in Washington, D.C.

She said her selection “gives me confidence that I’m doing the right kinds of things in the classroom and in the lab with students and faculty, and that it can have an impact. I feel very fortunate, blessed and honored to receive the award.”

Dwyer said fewer than 1,000 ACS members have been chosen for the lifetime achievement award since it was first awarded in 2008. She said for years the society presented many specific awards for various accomplishments in science, but it started the lifetime award after the membership realized there was nothing to recognize those who have excelled in science and service to the organization.

The daughter of Rosalie Doyle-Jeane (now living in El Cajon) and the late George Doyle said her family moved to Poway in 1965 when she was preschool-age. She attended Garden Road Elementary, Meadowbrook Middle School and Mt. Carmel High School, where she graduated in 1979. Dwyer said her family was very active in the Poway community, including her sister, Raelene, and brother, Dale.

It was during her years at Mt. Carmel that Dwyer said she decided to pursue a career in science. She credited her father for encouraging her since childhood to explore her interests in science and her teachers for furthering those pursuits.

She said this included Bob Bjorkquist, her junior year chemistry teacher. “He was fabulous,” Dwyer said. “The way he taught had substance to it.”

Dwyer recalled that because the students did not have calculators until late in the year, Bjorkquist taught them how to do complicated calculations on a slide rule.

She also enjoyed the chemical Jeopardy game he created, based on the television game show. “I just thought it was so much fun,” Dwyer said.

For college she went to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where the first-generation college graduate earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Dwyer said during freshman orientation the students were told they would likely switch their major out of the chemistry department, but every experiment she conducted and the “fabulous faculty put the wind in my sails” to continue.

It was her positive interactions with the faculty that inspired her to teach at the university level, Dwyer said.

She went on to earn a master’s and doctorate from UC San Diego. During her graduate years Dwyer joined a research group that was studying small organic molecules and conducting research using nuclear magnetic resonance. Her post-graduate work was done at UC Berkeley, where she continued to study DNA.

After teaching at Cal State San Marcos for two years, she joined the University of San Diego faculty in 1994. Since then, she has led efforts to make USD and its chemistry department a leader in undergraduate research and completed extensive research on the structure of DNA.

As chair of USD’s chemistry and biochemistry department for 13 of the past 16 years, Dwyer’s “signature achievement” was leading its successful application for a prestigious $500,000 Department Development Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, said Noelle Norton, dean of USD’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Due to matching USD funds, the award resulted in $1.1 million to build capacity and infrastructure in support of undergraduate research and allowed the department to institute a research requirement for each undergraduate student while maintaining excellence in teaching.

“This (ACS lifetime) award is a tribute to the rise of her department’s academic profile, the success of its students and her outstanding research,” Norton said.

“I love teaching and absolutely love working with students,” Dwyer said. “I love the ‘ah-ha’ moments, not only when they are studying, but in life. I love being the facilitator for other students.”

As for the growth USD’s chemistry department has gained under her leadership, Dwyer said she is proud of what has been achieved in many ways.

“It took on a national reputation; people know about us now, we’re on the map nationally,” she said. In the mid-1990s she said the department typically had seven to 10 majors graduate each year. Last year it had 42 and this year is likely to have 63. The faculty was mostly male, but now there are 14 faculty members, with the fifth female tenure track member recently hired.

Dwyer said that is important, especially with more female than male chemistry majors. She recalled how during her undergraduate years she never had a female chemistry professor.

Another “hallmark” Dwyer said she is proud of is how the program is undergraduate focused, with opportunities provided to students to conduct research.

In addition to her work at USD, Dwyer has also been very involved in ACS at its local chapter. This included serving as section chair for two years and education committee chair to promote K-12 science education for five years.

email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com