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In January, associate professor of chemistry Tom Poon was given the opportunity to deliver a eulogy for former student Allison "Allie" Noelle Tease '05, whose death that month in her hometown of Denver, Colo., followed a long battle with a debilitating spinal injury. To a crowd of 150 or more, Poon recalled Tease's memorable ability to bring people together, as well as her insatiable educational appetite, both at CMC and in a summer research position at Columbia University.
Tease, he recalls, was a transfer student who spent two years in the Joint Science Department, majoring in chemistry. "Allie's was a strong presence here," Poon said. "She was a bright and enthusiastic student."
Professor Poon's address to those who attended Allison Tease's memorial services follows:
I'm here today because Allie had a gift, and that was the special ability to bring people together. Those of you who knew her as a family member, as a friend, and as a teammate already know this. What I hope to do here is to convey to you how she used this gift within the scientific community. In light of this statement, let me jump ahead to when Allie was a research student at Columbia University. While she was there, she brought together scientists from as far away as Madras, India, Geneva, Germany, Canada, and strange and oddball locales such as New York City and Los Angeles!
I'm here today because I consider myself a very lucky person. You see, Allie had a choice of three different organic chemistry classes to enroll in. She chose mine. After just two weeks, I found myself pondering, "Who is this fireball, who always sits on the front-left side of the room and is constantly answering my chemistry questions and frequently asking such difficult and poignant questions of me?" Many of you may have seen the slideshow image of Allie's childhood thank you letter to Santa where she asks "How old are you?"
What child thinks to ask a question like that?
You can just imagine the types of chemistry questions that she would ask me! In fact, I would often have to tell Allie to come by my office so we could discuss her questions. Little did she know that—in between—I looked up answers on the Internet or in some textbook. Well, after these first two weeks, I knew that I had to get this student into my research group. I had never asked a sophomore to join my group before—after all, my research is in organic chemistry, and students have to TAKE organic chemistry before they can begin to understand my research. Nonetheless, I decided to take a chance on Allie and it paid off.
After we discussed the project, I thought I could buy myself some time by asking Allie to fix a machine that we would end up using for the project. I thought, "This will keep her busy for a week, at least." Well, just 30 minutes later, Allie knocked on my door and proclaimed, "Dr. Poon, it's fixed." I was stunned. It turns out that Allie had taken the machine apart, rewired it, and applied some WD-40 to make it as good as new. (For those of you who are curious, the machine was a catalytic hydrogenator-shaker.)
Needless to say, we began the project right away. I will not burden you with the jargon of her research, but simply say that after just 3 months, I realized that I could not keep this talent confined to Claremont. I told Allie about the summer research program at Columbia, and how I had a collaborator there who many believe to be the world's authority on his particular area of research (photochemistry). I encouraged her to apply. Forget the fact that up to a thousand students apply for the 10 available spots.
Well, as you know, Allie got in.
About a month after she started researching there, I started getting frequent email from a professor and other scientists who worked with Allie, praising her and thanking me for sending her their way. This is a good time to mention, again, Allie's special talent for bringing people together. I have since grown so much closer to the scientists at Columbia, and I firmly believe that Allie had much to do with that. After all, they probably want me to send more students like her their way! To put Allie's research in layperson's terms, Allie discovered a completely new phenomenon that summer: she found that when one chemical is placed inside another, it glows for a very long time. This chemical had not previously been known to do this before.
Allie began e-mailing me as well. She mentioned how very much she enjoyed both her research and the people at Columbia. She also mentioned that the professor wanted to meet with her weekly to discuss her research. I mean, he hadn't even asked ME to meet with him weekly when I was at Columbia!
Allie's research resulted in a paper that we submitted for publication, and she was asked by Columbia to present her research at the National Chemistry Meeting in Anaheim, California. Allie, as you might expect, gave a wonderful presentation.
As I mentioned, Allie touched everyone that she encountered in science. To give you an example of her ability to do this, I'll read some quotes from faculty who knew her. You see, upon hearing of the sad news earlier this week, many faculty members either called me up or e-mailed me to convey their grief. But they also had such fond memories of her, and I will share these with you now:
- Professor Nicholas Turro, who Allie researched under at Columbia: "It is a tragedy when such potential does not have the opportunity to be developed. We have wonderful memories of her time with us."
- Sandy Turro, Professor Turro's spouse and administrative assistant: "We loved her like one of our own. Nick and I are profoundly sad."
- Professor Gary Gilbert, Allie's academic advisor at Claremont McKenna: "She was a remarkable student, and her death at such a young age is truly tragic."
- Professor Leonard Fine, the faculty member at Columbia in charge of the summer research program, once told me that the group of students in the summer that Allie was there was one of the most enjoyable that he had ever encountered. "They were such a cohesive group and participated in so many social activities together." Of course, you must realize that it was mostly Allie, along with her close group of friends there, who was responsible for this.
- Professor Irene Tang, Allie's biology professor at Claremont McKenna, spoke with me in the hallway just two days ago. She recounted the time Allie stayed after lab to work on a tough Mendelian (genetics) problem and how she was SO impressed with the quality of student that Allie was.
- Finally, Dr. Tracy Morkin, a professor now at Emory University, who worked most closely with Allie at Columbia wrote: "I look at students here, early in their graduate school careers, and think, 'Wow, that could be Allie.' I always tell people here at Emory that Allie Tease ruined me for any other undergraduate researcher; so bright, talented, hard working, inquisitive. I was blessed to know such a great student, but also such a wonderful PERSON. She was always talking about her love of family, friends, dog—places she had been—just had such an amazing way of embracing life."
Although I was Allison's teacher, it was SHE who taught me a valuable lesson—that when faced with adversity, one perseveres; and when you've just given it all that you have, you fight some more.
In the scientific community, we have things known as standards. There are atomic clocks by which we can tell time to many, many decimal places. There are objects made out of exotic metals stored in vaults in Paris and Berlin that we use to measure length and mass. Allie will always be my classroom standard. She will be the standard by which I judge future students in my class, future researchers in my lab, and most importantly, future people that I meet from all walks of life.
This is the Allie that I knew.
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