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CUR Fellows
Awards Recipients for 2004 - Jerry R. Mohrig
 Jerry R. Mohrig
Herman and Gertude Mosier Stark Professor in the Natural Sciences and Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Carleton College
Jerry Mohrig received his B.S. in chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder. After teaching at Hope College for three years, he joined the faculty at Carleton in 1967 and taught there until his retirement in 2003. Jerry is now the Herman and Gertrude Mosier Stark Professor in the Natural Sciences, Emeritus.
Perusing Jerry’s Curriculum Vitae one cannot help but be impressed by both the breadth and depth of his interests and achievements. By themselves, the numbers are impressive: two national teaching awards, greater than 90% co-authorship by undergraduates on his independent research publications, the co-author of five books, funding from the major agencies in chemistry, and service to the Chemistry community in many capacities, including three terms as chair of the
Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society, membership on the Chemistry Advisory Committee for the
National Science Foundation, and service on many national advisory boards. He was a consultant to the
NSF on the development of the RUI Program and to the NIH on the AREA program. He was also a founding member of
CUR and served as its president from 1983 to 1987. Still, it is the devotion expressed in the letters supporting his nomination that shows the measure of his impact on the lives of students.
Although teaching is not formally a part of the award, his role as teacher/mentor rapidly comes to the fore as his greatest strength. Letters from three students, all currently faculty members, tell of his ability to inspire, both in the classroom and the research laboratory. The 140 students that chose Jerry as their research mentor is a testament to that ability. It is clear from these letters that his style is to use research as a vehicle for students to develop as independent scientists at an early stage of their careers. Each former student tells a story of how Jerry gave him or her a project and then used it to challenge the person to excel.
One former student says of him “With excellent examples and a message of inspiration, Jerry made me want to stay a second summer to become the researcher he and I both knew I could be,” while another says “… more importantly Jerry gave me the confidence to work in an area that, at the time anyway, did not appear to be my strongest suit … he treated me as an equal partner in the project from the beginning.” A third student echoed these themes in saying “He is masterful at gently encouraging students to fulfill their potential. … I think that Jerry’s great strength as an educator is his ability to work with students in a way that allows them to develop self-confidence.”
One quotation describes, perhaps, the goal of all mentors: “He is completely in touch both with his students and with the broader needs of chemistry, and when he advises his students, they come to realize that they too can have an impact on the field that they chose. So often they do have an impact because Jerry sincerely believes in them and lets them know it.”
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