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Dr. Peter Johnson is one of the well renowned IIT professors. This is not surprising considering he has been teaching at IIT for the past twenty-two years and interacts closely with IIT students. Here is a chance for you to discover more about the 'wonder' chemistry professor - Dr. Peter Young Johnson. Johnson obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from University of Illinois Urbana and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT, Boston. Prior to working at IIT, he was an assistant professor at The John Hopkins University, Maryland. This explains why he is able to offer counsel to many of IIT's pre-medical students. Johnson commenced work at IIT in 1976 as an Associate Professor in the Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences Dept. His first impression of IIT was the campus. He remarked, "I was very surprised about how pretty the campus was especially in an urban setting. I like IIT's campus though not many people do." The students also made a great impression on him. According to him, " IIT students are incredible and very hardworking. I think IIT has a very good record of attracting good students." Initially when Johnson arrived at IIT, he was involved in funded research on organic synthesis from 1976 until 1990, in addition to teaching. He later became involved with the running of academic programs at IIT. His first summer program was on "Computer Modeling in Mathematics and Science" in 1984. As a result of the great success of the program, he became the director of IIT's "Summer Institutes on Computer Modeling in Mathematics and Science" (1985-1992). Johnson was the director of the Educational Technology Center (ETC) (from 1988 till 1993). The ETC grew immensely over the years becoming a major tutoring center for IIT students and attracted a high caliber of talented student tutors. |
As a result of his huge success in the management of the ETC, Johnson was appointed the Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs (the first), from 1988-1993.
Presently, aside from teaching chemistry, Johnson is involved with the running of Urban Education programs. His job is to "run after" large grants from the government that provide students with many opportunities such as the AMP (Chicago Alliance for Minority Participation) undergraduate minorities research scholarship program and engineering pre-college programs. |
"This makes you a lot happier realizing the opportunity you have to make an impact in a student's life and help shape their goals in the right direction. For me, the spirit that keeps me moving on is to be able to look back and say that I made a difference in a student's life," remarked Johnson. Johnson is highly involved in student activities on campus. He been the faculty advisor to Union Board since 1984. He is also the advisor for the Ski Club and Outdoor Club, both of which are run indirectly through the UB. He received the Outstanding Student Organization Faculty Advisor Award for 1994/95. "IIT is a creative vacuum, a very interesting place where students can be almost anything they want for instance, an engineer being involved in the 33rd Street Productions. My advice to students is to study hard and play hard. They should make the best use of the opportunities at IIT such as leadership roles so that they can graduate as a complete person," advised Johnson. Johnson enjoys outdoor activities such as biking, hiking, skiing, canoeing, etc. He also enjoys being a webmaster of several pages (he must be one of the most prolific web developers). He has two children, a son graduating this May from Purdue and a daughter, a Ph.D. student at University of Houston. "I enjoy being at IIT. It is comfortable though nothing is perfect. There is a strong sense of family among students and faculty. IIT's top 20-25% students are almost as good as the top ranked students of any other prestigious university in the nation. I hope the recent grant received by the school will be utilized in making the university's facilities and labs as good as the students," Johnson remarked. Remember to take his Freshman Chemistry class to observe, first hand, "show and blow" chemistry. |
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