Ralph Isovitsch

Biography

Professor Ralph Isovitsch is a native of western Pennsylvania. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Grove City College in May of 1992. He then went on to earn his Ph.D. in organic and inorganic chemistry from the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in May of 1997. His Ph.D. advisor was Dr. Andrew Maverick. After eight long months of postdoctoral work with Dr. Russell Schmehl at Tulane University in New Orleans, he started his first tenure-track job as a member of the Division of Science and Mathematics at the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas, USVI. He left the USVI for his second job in the chemistry department of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans in August 2002. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina chased him from Xavier University to his current (and hopefully final) job in the chemistry department of Whittier College. He was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in the fall of 2010. At Whittier College, Isovitsch teaches organic chemistry lecture and lab (which keeps his quite busy), advanced organic chemistry lecture every once in a while, and the senior level courses Seminar and Integrated Lab on a semi-regular basis. He also contributes to the Liberal Education curriculum by teaching a course on natural disasters and also Freshman Writing Seminar.

Research Interest

encompasses the fields of organic and inorganic synthesis, analytical chemistry as well as physical chemistry. Specifically, they make new molecules and study their properties toward the goals of applying them to diverse areas such as the catalysis of carbon bond formation and molecular electronics. The following narrative describes just a few of the many different research projects that are currently being worked on by Whittier students in Isovitsch's lab. Stilbenes Schiff Bases: Synthesis and Coordination Chemistry Linear Triazenes