Brian Hult and Patrick Itotia (BS Chemistry, 2005): Brian did an internship involving nanotechnology with Dr. John Free at Harvard. Brian and Patrick worked on a research project with Dr. Timothy Wooster and presented their work at the Northeast Regional meeting of the American Chemical Society in a poster session.. Brian was accepted at Northeastern University and Patrick was accepted at SUNY Buffalo both with a full tuition scholarship and a teaching assistantship.

Lenny DeMoranville (BS Chemistry 2004): Lenny was awarded an internship with Genzyme. His performance was so excellent that Genzyme hired him for a year while he applied to graduate school (and paid some bills). He was accepted at the University of Maryland with full tuition scholarship and a teaching assistantship.

Kim Rose Blish (BS Chemistry 2002): Kim engaged in research with Dr. Lowell Hall during one summer and school year. She and Dr. L. H. Hall coauthored two papers that were published in scientific journals. She was accepted at Wake Forest as the number one entering student in their MD-PhD program and was given a $42,000 scholarship for each of her six years in the program.

Amanda Mohling Flowers (BS Chemistry 2002): Amanda was awarded Summer Research Scholarship under NSF REU program at Wellesley College. Amanda is now teaching High School Chemistry in Virginia

David B. Wooster, BS Chemistry 1979 receives an Alumni Achievement Award. Rev. Wooster currently serves as the Executive Director of the Esther Sanger Center for Compassion in Quincy Ma.He states "As a chemistry major I never could have envisioned the benefits that a Liberal Arts education would give me. Benefits which would carry me through the twists and turns that have brought the achievements you recognize tonight. The mentoring of Christian faculty and the models of servant hood that I experienced as a student shaped me. I am deeply grateful and humbled to be recognized for how the college has enriched my life." The full text of his acceptance speach can be found here.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. — Ecclesiastics 12:13 NIV

Bachelor of Science, Chemistry, 1982

Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, University of North Carolina, 1987

NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow, Princeton University, 1987-1990

From 1995 to present has served as Senior Chemist and manager for Merck Research Laboratories, in West Point, PA. Currently serves as Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Control in Pharmaceutical Research and Development. Has authored a number of professional publications and has made multiple presentations across the United States and in Canada, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Currently serves on the Executive Board for Christ’s Home, a ministry to children and the elderly in Warminister, PA, and serves on the Board for Evelyn Memorial Compassionate Ministries, a program which provides shelter, education and food in a Christian environment to homeless children in Naivasha, Kenya.

An active member of Lansdale Church of the Nazarene, serves on the Church Board, as treasurer and chairman of the finance committee, leads a home group and co-leads an adult Bible Fellowship Class.

ENC seeks, in each member of its community, to enlighten the mind, to enhance the quality of personality, to enkindle a never-ending search for truth, and to enable each, out of Christian love and concern, to serve others creatively and responsibly. This is lived out in the search for truth, a conscious seeking of the highest values in all phases of life, a commitment to creative scholarship, and over all, a commitment to the Christian faith. – ENC Ideal

by Kyle Alspach (05)

As news of an impending war with Iraq dominated the news, Eastern Nazarene College received a visit from a scientist whose work on the Manhattan Project helped to end World War II. Dr. Carl Crouthamel, ENC Class of 1942, lectured in January on his role in the creation of the atomic bomb.

Crouthamel was invited by Dr. Karl Giberson to address the students in Epoch Making Events in Science. He began by remarking that, at 82 years old, “I know I’m really ancient when I get the alumni reports from the college and the only names I recognize are the names of buildings or memorial scholarships.”

After ENC, Crouthamel went to Boston University to complete a master’s degree in chemistry, and it was there that the Manhattan Project called for him. He was ordered to report to the University of Chicago, where he was given assignments about which he was told very little. For instance, his first assignment, he told the EMES class, was to create high purity uranium metal, but he did not know that this was going to be used in a nuclear reactor.

The man building the reactors, Crouthamel’s boss, was Enrico Fermi, the great Italian physicist. Fermi had co-invented the nuclear reactor, and his work was among the most important in the creation of the atomic bomb. “Fermi was one of the greatest men I had ever been associated with,” Crouthamel said, noting that he worked closely with Fermi until his death in 1958.

Crouthamel related that his Christian faith did not change after leaving ENC. Even while working as a scientist who relied upon natural explanations for phenomena, he never compromised his firm belief that “we don’t come to God with our intellect and knowledge, we come as children,” adding that, “I recognize that there are limits to my understanding, but saying that there is no God makes the least sense of all.”

The next evening, Crouthamel was back for another round in the Shrader lecture hall, an appropriate location not only because it is the science building but also because Crouthamel studied under Dr. Shrader while attending ENC. There were over 150 in attendance, students, faculty, members of the greater community, President McClung, and a reporter from the Patriot Ledger. The topic selected for the evening by Crouthamel was, “Why did we drop the bomb?”

“Some people claim that Truman made the decision without consultation,” Crouthamel told the audience, “but in reality he took testimony for two months on whether or not to use it.” What Truman found, Crouthamel said, was that the bomb would actually save millions of Japanese lives in addition to the loves of approximately 750,000 American soldiers.

If America had attempted to end the war with firebombing, there would have been many more Japanese and American casualties than with the atomic bomb. “Japanese generals were actually glad for the use of the bomb,” Crouthamel said, “because they knew they would have to fight to the end, to the very last man.”

In addition, Russia was eager to come in and help restructure Japan, as was done in Germany, with the north going to communism and the south going to democracy. It is even possible that Russia would have tried to take the whole country. “This was all avoided by using the bomb,” Crouthamel stated.

When the bomb was dropped, Crouthamel was about 100 miles offshore from Japan on a Navy ship, awaiting the outcome. It was his suspicion that if the bomb were a dud, he would have had to go ashore to check things out. From this position, he was able to faintly see the mushroom cloud from the first of the two atomic bombs.

The lecture came to a conclusion as Crouthamel read Truman’s words about the decision to drop the bomb. Truman, he noted, never second-guessed the decision, even to his death. Crouthamel broke down as he read, and he finished by saying that, “I was out there, and his decision probably saved my life.”

An interview with Kyle Alspach (05)

Dr. Carl Crouthamel graduated from ENC in 1942 with a chemistry major, earned a master’s in chemistry from Boston University in 1943, and was awarded a Ph.D. in inorganic and nuclear chemistry from Iowa State University in 1950. Crouthamel had donated $460,000 toward the renovation of ENC’s Shrader Hall in 1997, and returned to the lecture hall in to talk to an attentive college audience about his career and the Manhattan project in particular.

What was your early experience with science?

In the eighth grade, we were given an assignment to write about two different vocations. I wrote on being a physicist and a chemist. I interviewed the chemist in a glue factory. I remember how proud he was and how interested he was in his work. That strengthened my desire to go into chemistry and physics.

Did you ever wonder whether or not it was okay for a Christian to study science?

No, I didn’t; I thought it was a good thing to study God’s creation and understand how it works. No matter what I discovered, I said, “Gee, that’s the way God does it.” I never removed God from my understanding.

When you were choosing science, what was the public perception of a scientist?

It was very high. Einstein, of course, was highly respected as being a wonderful man. Nuclear energy had not been discovered, so people weren’t worried about anything terrible happening.

You graduated from ENC in 1942 and studied under some of the great names in ENC history.

I worked mostly under Dr. Shrader. I remember how different ENC was from my previous school. I was astounded that a professor was interested in me as a human being and interested in my Christian beliefs.

What happened after ENC?

I went to Boston University to take charge of the analytical laboratories. I got notice to report to the University of Chicago; I was introduced to Enrico Fermi and was give assignments in the Manhattan program. They didn’t tell me they were making an atomic bomb or a nuclear reactor. They did tell me they wanted to make several tons of very high purity uranium metal for Fermi’s reactors.

Enrico Fermi, with whom you worked, is credited with having co-invented the nuclear reactor, and making possible the creation of the atomic bomb. He has been called one of the most significant scientists of the 20 th century and even one of the most influential people of all time. What did you think about him?He was one of the brightest men I have ever run up against. Students loved to go to his physics classes. He was one of the greatest teachers that I ever met; he could clarify the most difficult subjects. I met Oppenheimer, who was a s bright or brighter than Fermi, but there was a big difference between the two. Fermi combined an outgoing personality with his super intellect. Oppenheimer was cold and you didn’t feel like he any concern for you at all.

What did you do specifically with Fermi?

I audited his physics classes, and we had seminars where we discussed the Manhattan project. We also got assignments. Mine was to go to Iowa State University and work on the production of uranium metal that was high enough in purity to work in the plutonium production reactors in Hanford, WA.

Who were some of the other Manhattan project scientists you were involved with?

I got to know Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Glenn Seaborg, and Willard Libby, who was the inventor of carbon dating. Most of my close contact with them was in seminars or planning meetings. I had a closer relationship with Fermi. I remember when he started feeling sick and went into the hospital, and I remember thinking what a terrible waste for him to die at such a young age (58). There was cancer all over his body. Fermi didn’t admit this, but I’m sure that the cancer was a consequence of his work at the University of Rome, where he took dosages of fast neutrons.

Talk about the test blast, Trinity, that went off in the New Mexico desert.

Oppenheimer thought that the first trial bomb would yield energy of about 500 tons of TNT. Admiral Leahy predicted that it would be a dud and wouldn’t go off at all. The highest prediction was about 1,500 tons of TNT. It turned about to be around 20,000 tons, and this shocked even Oppenheimer. He called it a “doomsday device.”

Oppenheimer had some reservations about the bomb.

He felt that we were doing things that man shouldn’t be doing. He was an extremely brilliant man, but he suffered from mental depression. Oppenheimer opposed the hydrogen bomb, and so the military essentially bypassed him and brought in
Edward Teller who supervised the construction of the fusion bomb.

Do you think Oppenheimer was wrong?

No; he was entitled to his opinion. But I don’t think you can stop science just by leaving and ignoring a project. When it’s ripe and ready for harvest, the knowledge is going to be harvested. I could say I think it’s wrong for us to have decoded the DNA molecule, and for us to manipulate our own genetics. That could be as wrong as developing a nuclear bomb, but there’s nobody in this world that is going to stop it form being done.

Did you ever have any moral qualms about having worked on the bomb?

No. My opinion was that God is in control, and God is allowing mankind to do this. I used to say to my wife that God promised to never again destroy us by a flood, but maybe he would allow us to destroy ourselves by our own knowledge.

Do you think that the United States has gotten carried away with developing nuclear weaponry?

I think the United States had no business making the tons of plutonium that they did out at Hanford, WA. They had all these nuclear-trained people, and if they shut the reactors down, they were going to throw thousands of people out of work, so they just kept making plutonium when they had no need for it. The directors of four of the national laboratories are going to Washington to propose that we burn it in fast nuclear reactors, which will produce electricity, and also reduce our burning of coal and oil and gas.

Talk about your work after the war.

In 1958, the Argonne National Laboratory was being built, and I transferred there after working at the University of Chicago. I worked at Argonne for almost 30 years. My job involved determining nuclear cross-sections and manufacturing nuclear fuel. We produced innovative new methods of making and reprocessing nuclear fuel, and I went to Europe and Asia to supervise the refueling of the reactors there.

How do you explain your work on the bomb to someone with a pacifist religious tradition?

As far as I am concerned, God opened the door for me to work on the bomb. It appeared that the Japanese would defend their homeland even if it meant sacrificing every last man. Truman estimated that we saved about a million Japanese civilian lives plus a million Japanese soldiers’ lives and about 750,000 casualties of our own. I don’t have any apologies for using the bomb. As Truman was dying, people kept asking him whether or not he regretted dropping the bomb, and the last statement he made before he died was that he certainly did not. He could stand before God and feel that he had saved millions of lives.

What do you think is the future of nuclear energy in the U.S.?

That depends on many factors. The size of the population is important, but it also depends upon how well we tolerate the pain and strain of either a lack of oil or a high price for oil and gasoline. The burning of hydrocarbons and the increase in the C0 2 of the atmosphere are also factors. Whether they are responsible for global warming is a big question right now.

You have used an illustration from history that makes and important point about the role of science. Please relate the story of FDR and the scientists he assembled in 1937.

The president had twelve of the brightest scientists get together to tell him what were going to be the significant scientific advances during the rest of the 20 th century. Their predictions were way off. They didn’t mention nuclear; space or jet propulsion; the unraveling of the DNA code and molecular biology; antibiotics; or personal computers. What did they mention? They mentioned super highways and bullet trains and that our food production would increase, and that has happened.

My lesson from that piece of history is that we should be pretty humble about our ability to predict what is in the future. Those weren’t stupid people; they were the brightest people that Roosevelt could muster, and we’re no smarter than they were.

Dr. Richard J. Simons Professor of Medicine Penn State University Hershey Medical Center

News Release from the College of Medicine, Penn State University

"Chemistry Department alum Dr. Richard, J. Simons, M.D., was recently appointed Assistant Dean for Medical Education, Penn State University, College of Medicine, Hershey, PA."Dr. Simons brings a deep and abiding interest in medical education to the Dean's Office," said Robert C. Aber, M.D, senior associate dean for medical education. "He will initially focus on clinical medical education, including years three and four of medical school and our graduate medical education programs."

Dr. Simons is currently Professor of Medicine, Associate Chairman for education programs and Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program in the Department of Medicine.

In 1981, Dr. Simons earned his doctor of medicine from the Penn State College of Medicine, after completing his premedical training at Eastern Nazarene College, where he was a chemistry major. He received his medical house staff training at the University of Michigan Hospitals, Ann Arbor in 1984 and was Chief Resident at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in 1984-1985. He also served a geriatric fellowship at the University of North Carolina College of Medicine at Chapel Hill in 1098-1988. In 1996 he was a Harvard Macy Scholars Fellow at the Harvard Medical School in the program for physician educators.

Dr. Simons' clinical and research interests include thyroid disease, wellness, iatrogenic illness, geriatrics and medical education. He has coordinated the development of a clinical skills assessment tool for fourth-year medical students and has extensively restructured the department's curriculum for both resident and student programs.

Dr. Simons has served in leadership positions for several national medical organizations and is currently on the internal medicine question writing committee for the National Board of Medical Examiners. He is a fellow in the American College of Physicians/American Society for Internal Medicine.

Since July 1996, Dr. Simons has served as a consultant to the Office of the Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In August 1998, he became a member of the Office of Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Medical/Legal Advisory Board of Elder Abuse and Neglect.

Dr. Simons has received awards for excellence in teaching and is the author of numerous professional articles." Congratulations to Dr. Simons (better known as "Rich" around the Chemistry Department at here ENC) on his many outstanding accomplishments. Rich makes his home in Hummelstown, PA with wife JoDell and son Tyler.