Dr. John Gupton received a BS degree in Chemistry from the Virginia Military Institute in 1967, and both MS and PhD degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1969 and 1975, respectively. His professional career started with an industrial position at CIBA-GEIGY Co, where he was a Senior Chemist for three years. In 1978, Dr. Gupton joined the University of Central Florida as a junior faculty and moved through the ranks to become a Professor of Chemistry in 1986. Following 5 years as Department Chair and Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Asheville, he moved to the University of Richmond in 1999 where he is currently the Floyd and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Professor of Chemistry. As the Chair of the Chemistry Department at the University of Richmond (2001-2005), he played an important role in the design of the new Gottwald Science Center – a state-of-the-art science building designed to offer outstanding undergraduate research opportunities. His philosophy about undergraduate research reflects his outstanding teacher/scholar character and is summed up in his own words: “It is the research advisors’ role to provide a project which is important and worth doing, but is doable in the context of the institution’s environment.” Over the last 29 years, Dr. Gupton has mentored the research work of 103 undergraduates and has published 93 peer-reviewed publications, with approximately 70% of them coauthored with undergraduate students. His high level of scholarship was evident from the start of his academic career, as indicated by a former colleague at the University of Central Florida who said “John quickly demonstrated, even with a heavy teaching load, that one could simultaneously be a stimulating teacher and have a viable, productive research program at a predominantly undergraduate institution.”

Dr. Gupton’s area of expertise is synthetic organic chemistry. His “trinity of goals” centers around three relevant themes: (1) developing and understanding new and novel reactions of vinylogous iminium salts; (2) modifying these vinylogous iminium salts with unique substituents and understanding the resulting reactivity; and (3) applying this information to the preparation of biologically important compounds. Dr. Gupton’s passion for undergraduate research is also reflected in the classroom, where he teaches a challenging and sometimes daunting subject, sophomore organic chemistry. As expressed by one of his former research students “It is interesting to note that the Gupton research group consisted not only of chemistry majors but also biology students, a fact I can only attribute to his ability to inspire students.” That passion has also inspired many of his students to pursue successful graduate careers in Chemistry or other postgraduate work at major research universities. A former member of his group, now an industrial PhD chemist, wrote that his undergraduate research experience inspired him to choose Chemistry as his professional discipline and said “John gently encouraged me to explore some of the exciting opportunities that lay beyond undergraduate research.” Undergraduates under Dr. Gupton’s mentorship have received a number of important awards, including two prestigious NSF predoctoral fellowships and a DOE fellowship.

Over his career, Dr Gupton has been able to secure 28 grants totaling $2.1 million dollars from private and federal funding agencies, including the Dreyfus Foundation, Petroleum Research Fund, Research Corporation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Gupton’s research accomplishments are highlighted by a colleague of his who wrote “…that John has attracted this support given his career positions in predominantly undergraduate institutions is even more impressive.”  He has also taken numerous leadership roles to support undergraduate research endeavors. He was a CUR councilor from 1985-1993, and served terms as Secretary (1990-1991) and Chair of the Chemistry Division (1991-1993). Also, he was the Chair of the Orlando ACS subsection in 1981.

Dr. Gupton has received many awards and honors including the outstanding graduate student paper award presented at the annual meeting of the Georgia Academy of Science (1969), the University of Central Florida University Wide Annual Award for Excellence in Research (1985) and Teaching (1991), the University of Central Florida College of Arts & Science Annual Award for Excellence in Research (1985) and Teaching (1991), Invited Speaker Gordon Research Conference on Heterocyclic Compounds (1991), Camille and Henry Dreyfus Scholar/Fellow (1991 and 2001), and the University of Richmond Distinguished Educator Award (2005). More recently, the American Chemical Society announced professor John Gupton as the 2008 recipient of the very prestigious national award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution. However, Dr. Gupton’s accomplishments are best summed up by a colleague who wrote: “While his list of accomplishments is indeed remarkable, what is more impressive and inspiring is being able to observe the interactions John has with his research students. I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do this on a routine basis.”