Thomas Jefferson attributed much of his success to his mentors and teachers---those who fueled the energy behind his growth as statesman, inventor, architect, lawyer, botanist... Jefferson's "Williamsburg Trio" was vital in his individual growth and his future influence.

Personal development and growth is not a solo task.  Every boat has its rudder---and in designs where rudders aren't part of the deal, someone is still helping you steer with paddle, with oar.  Were it not for some amazing teachers and mentors in my life, I would be a bark of twig and string going with the flow and by now, likely dashed into a bajillion pieces across hidden shoals. 

Below is my Williamsburg Trio---and I intentionally incorrectly call it a "trio" only because, let's face it,  I just don't know the Latin-rooted descendant of whatever word means "group of ten influential people who changed my life".

The Philosopher-Poet - Kemmer Anderson, who led me into Plato's cave and out again in high school sophomore English.  He turned my writing and thinking of poetry so much on its head that I published my first poem in a nationally circulated small-press, Pegasus, at the end of my tenth grade year.  My momentum in moving forward was first seeded in Kemmer's classroom.

The Southern Gentleman Historian - Dr. Rorin Platt, who got me hooked on coffee and tater-tots.  He was my AP European History Teacher in my junior year of high school.  He engrained in me a cultural world view---politically and socioeconomically, 

The Pedagogue of All Writers' Pedagogues - Dr. Pamela Farrell-Childers, who helped me combine the creative side of writing with the marketing side of getting one's work published and seen by the reading public.  To this day, I still follow a submissions format and advice which she gave me over a decade ago.

The Master Of Grammar (MOG) - Bill Boyd, who instilled in me the fear of incorrect grammar---of whose valley of the shadow of death I still stumble through quite regularly, though I remain diligently watchful (whose error-free state I have yet to asymptotically reach).  This English teacher turned historical novelist still gives me the privilege of meeting him for coffee in my stops through Chattanooga now, where we discuss television, literature, poetry, and the end of modern civilization as we know it.

The Geneticist of Practicality - Dr. Michael Betenbaugh, Johns Hopkins University, who helped me through my difficult academic realization that I was an English major trapped in a chemical engineer's body and had to persevere through it all.  He introduced me to the world of industry with my first major project with a chemical process controls systems firm called GSE based in Baltimore.  It was my first glimpse into what a life in industry might hold for me and an experience that sticks with me to this day each time I set foot into a manufacturing plant.

The Noble Thermodynamicist - Dr. Mike Paulaitis, Johns Hopkins University, who was the chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering while I was an undergrad.  He expanded my interest in thermodynamics above and beyond the curriculum. From the best of my fledgling observations, watching him run a department was akin to watching an entrepreneur successfully run a Fortune 500 company.  My favorite memory was of  me sitting outside the New Engineering Building, freezing cold on a bench when Paulaitis walking by in a scarf, trenchcoat, gloves, and suitcase.  "How's the thermo business?" I asked. "Thermodynamics is business as usual." he laughed.  To me, that one sentence summarized the cosmos for me at that point in time.  He was a quantitative theorist wearing the face of a Wall Street Businessman.  Through his lectures, you got a feel of what a thermodynamic aristocracy might have looked like had Hesse's Castalia become a true-to-earth embodiement.  He introduced me to the world of protein solutions thermodynamics and fanned the flames of my interest in prion diseases from a protein-folding point of view---of which, since being consumed by the battery world, I am now just an armchair tinkerer of protein thermo (hard to run measurable protein folding experiments on the floor of my living room).

The Chemical Engineer's Chemical Engineer - Dr. Mark McHugh, Virginia Commonwealth University, who, through his lectures while a professor at Johns Hopkins, inspired me to the seemingly straightforward concept of quantitative "correlation" between scientific observations--in and outside of thermodynamics, something that I've applied with much success to any discipline that requires me to put numbers to paper. He was friendly, outgoing, and made us all laugh out loud during lectures, however it was that which was not said, per se, but written,  that had a more direct impact on me.   I learned the entirety of that course's concepts on fluid phase thermodynamics by poring over his hand-scrawled notes over and over--most notably at 2am on a redeye flight from California the night before an exam. It was because of him that I realized first that if I had to stake my claim to any area in chemical engineering, that it was going to be thermodynamics.   McHugh was also the first (but not the only) to point out that beer itself is a feat of chemical engineering, and as such, should be a heritage that no chemical engineer take for granted.  

The Indiana Jones of Engineering - Dr. Bob Greer , who helped me get a foothold on my path to licensure as a Professional Engineer.  This Boston area native, whose pursuits led to a doctoral degree from UK's University of Manchester in polymer rheology, took him across Europe, Mexico and the Georgia back-country.  Listening to his adventures and exploits of his life is akin to an adventure novel whose character would have been the result had Clive Cussler and Michael Crichton had mechanical engineering leanings.   He got my foot in the door when it came for my registration to sit for the Engineer-In-Training (EIT) exam for the State of Georgia and much more beyond that, has been my mentor in the engineering world as a business world, of the balance of academic life with personal pursuits, and yes, like the best thrillers, even on meeting and marrying the woman of your dreams.  An all around mentor whose wisdom and life lessons have made my professional life just that much richer.

The Chemical Ethicist - Dr. Jeff Kovac, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville, who helped me place a newfound emphasis in bringing about the role of professional ethics into the forefront of my professional and academic growth.  Always a pleasure to rant on the epistemological basis of chemistry and the history of science, tinged with the modern day implications of a professional life that is advancing the field without sacrifice to truth, integrity, and consistency.  A thermodynamicist by training who has combined the pursuit of energy into the pursuit of something much greater.  Red wine and pasta at Aubrey's off of Knoxville's Kingston Pike anytime with this fine gentleman.

The Descendant of the Grand Line of Thermodynamicists - Dr. Ram Gupta - Auburn University, whose patience and faith in my abilities in thermodynamics has continued to inspire me, even when I feel like I'm not showing it.  He has opened his ideas and his lab to me and has continued to encourage me to take the right path in academia as I continued to re-balance my professional pursuits with my academic ones.  He did his post-doc with one of the greatest living thermodynamicists, Berkeley's John Prausnitz.  I feel so fortunate to continue to receive his encouragement and his unending kindness.