Award-Winning Professor Sees Art in Science

Carlos Gutierrez’s love of art -- painting, sculpting, color, design -- led him to a life of science.

As a college student in the late 1960s, “I couldn’t stop thinking about art,” he said. How did blue get its color? What makes red red? What is gesso composed of? What are the elements of linseed oil?

He found the answers in “Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques,” a scientific manual that launched his 28-year career as a chemistry professor at Cal State L.A.

“I’ve loved it ever since,” said Gutierrez, 55, whose passion for chemistry and talent as a professor earned him the prestigious Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science.

Gutierrez’s fans -- and there are plenty -- said that the professor’s devotion to chemistry is contagious, even life-changing for some who decided to pursue chemistry professionally after taking his class.

Anthony Ling said that studying organic chemistry under Gutierrez beginning in 1996 was a “turning point” in his career. Gutierrez, he said, gave him “the opportunity to develop confidence in my skills as a chemist by giving me the freedom to work independently and by providing guidance with an open-door policy.”

“About life, Carlos never lectured about ethics or morals,” Ling said, but the professor’s patience and generosity with students “deeply influenced my own behavior.” Ling went on to become a principal scientist at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in La Jolla.

The mixture of professor and friend is what sets Gutierrez apart from most other instructors, say colleagues and students.

Gutierrez said he just tries to make chemistry -- sometimes seen as a “nerdy” subject practiced by the elite -- fun and accessible to students of all skill levels and ethnic backgrounds.

“A lot of people are intimidated by scientists,” said Gutierrez, who looks comfortable in his tan chinos, bright T-shirt and sandals, relaxing in his cluttered office. “Anyone who has interest in the way the world works can do science.”

Gutierrez shares his foray into science, via art, with hundreds of students he has instructed and mentored through programs funded by the National Institutes of Health, such as the Minority Access to Research Careers and the Minority Biomedical Research Support.

“I tell them that chemistry is a creative field,” said Gutierrez, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at UCLA and a doctorate in organic chemistry from UC Davis. “It’s as creative as art.”

His eyes widened and his hands fluttered, animating his words as he likened a molecule to a sculpture.

“It’s a beautiful art,” Gutierrez said, talking about his work with students in the laboratory. “We build molecules. Beautiful molecules. Who wouldn’t find that fun?”

Or inspiring. The American Assn. for the Advancement of Science cited his devotion to science and his students as factors in his winning the lifetime mentor award.

“Gutierrez’s colleagues and students view him as an exceptional, inspirational and supportive teacher,” said the association’s website in describing the award winner.

The association was founded in 1848 and publishes the journal Science.

The organization also praised Gutierrez, who was born in Mexico and raised primarily in the Los Angeles area, for encouraging Latino and other minority students to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees.

Besides his work with NIH-funded programs, Gutierrez helped establish the American Chemical Society Committee on Minority Affairs and has been a member of the National Institute for General Medical Sciences Advisory Council.

Many of Cal State L.A.’s students have little money and work to put themselves through school. Gutierrez often helps them get financial aid and has been known to find donors to supply students with equipment such as laptop computers.

“I don’t believe money should prevent a student from learning,” said Gutierrez, whose wife is also a chemistry professor at Cal State L.A. “I will try to make resources available to them, because I want them to know the possibilities are out there.”

Claudia Molina took her first chemistry course at Los Angeles City College in 1996. But, she said, “reality plundered my enthusiasm for chemistry” when she realized few minority students were attaining doctoral degrees in the field, which lacked Latino mentors.

Then, in 1997, she began conducting chemistry research with Gutierrez at Cal State L.A. “He stimulated my creative and intellectual thinking, which is essential in graduate school,” said Molina, a second-year doctoral student in chemistry at UC Irvine. “He fostered teamwork and imprinted in my brain to think outside of the box.”

Other students -- some who earned advanced degrees at institutions such as UCLA, Yale, Johns Hopkins and Princeton -- echoed Molina.

Gutierrez, who keeps in touch with many of students for years, said he tells them all that “chemistry is hard.... But I encourage them to stick with it, because the rewards are more than worth it.”