UMBC's top 2002 alumni award winner has a significant list of publications and research awards to his credit. He's also earned one of his profession's top honors--this past year he was one of just five professors nationwide to receive the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, given by the Dreyfus Foundation for outstanding teaching and work with undergraduates.

As a researcher, teacher and mentor, Ram Mohan finds great satisfaction in each role. As a researcher, it's "to know that the research is meaningful and practical," he says. As a teacher, it's "to be able to intrigue students about the subject matter so they seek more knowledge." As a mentor, it's "to see a spark of joy in a student's eye when he or she makes a discovery in the lab."

Mohan is an assistant professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, a small school with just 2,000 students in central Illinois. To assist his research on bismuth compounds (bismuth is one of the ingredients found in antacid tablets, among other things), Mohan has turned to his students, all undergraduates.

Since joining the university in 1996, he has supervised more than 30 students, several of whom have co-authored publications in prestigious scientific journals such as the Journal of Organic Chemsitry under Mohan's leadership. His work is highly regarded and well funded by the American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund and the National Science Foundation.

Mohan says working in the lab with undergraduates poses special challenges, as the students must be thoroughly trained, and they struggle to balance their lab time with many other academic and extracurricular demands. However, the payoff comes in the form of pride for Mohan when a student makes a discovery or grasps a new concept.

It was another researcher, teacher and mentor at UMBC who inspired Mohan. "I learned all the tricks of the trade from my faculty advisor, Dale Whalen," recalls Mohan. "He was never too busy to come to the lab. His research is first-rate, and he is respected in his field."

Although well established and accomplished in his own right, Mohan looks back on his days at UMBC fondly. "Those were the most enjoyable days," he says. "Often I wish I could be a grad student again."

To read more about Mohan's research, go to his Web site at http://titan.iwu.edu/~chem/fresearch.htm.