Q&A With American Chemical Society President Luis Echegoyen

On Feb. 5, NJIT will welcome Luis Echegoyen, 2020 president of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the largest scientific society in the world. 

As part of the College of Science and Liberal Arts’ Organic Syntheses Distinguished Seminar Speaker series, Echegoyen will speak to the NJIT community to share his experience and research interests over his nearly 50-year career — particularly regarding new possibilities in modern chemical research related to buckyballs, sometimes referred to as "the most magnificent molecule known to man."

Echegoyen was born in Havana, Cuba in 1951, later moving to Puerto Rico where he would receive a B.S. in chemistry and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Since then, he has published more than 420 research articles and 47 book chapters, and has provided more than 465 scientific lectures worldwide. 

Ahead of the event, we caught up with Echegoyen to discuss everything from his plans to support chemists in higher education, to raising awareness for those struggling with imposter syndrome, to his message for students embarking on a career in chemistry.

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What began your journey in chemistry?

I was inspired by a great teacher. I was always awed by science, but my eighth grade science teacher sparked a change and by my first college semester I completely switched from studying engineering to chemistry. We call chemistry “the central science” because it touches so many disciplines, and it offers amazing possibilities. I caught a sense of those possibilities then. By 1977 I started my academic research career, by 1980 I got involved in supramolecular chemistry, and by 1990 I became fascinated by buckyballs, or carbon cages about 1 nanometer in diameter capable of encapsulating atoms and clusters inside. They still fascinate me. At NJIT, I’ll discuss these amazing structures, especially those encapsulating things inside, which I like to call “molecular maracas.” 

In your talks and lectures around the world, is there a topic your audiences are frequently interested in hearing about?

Last week at the ACS Leadership Institute in Atlanta I shared my experience as a sufferer of imposter syndrome, a fear that you have not earned your success and that you will be exposed as a fraud. I have dealt with it virtually my whole career. This really affects underrepresented minorities and women in particular, who believe their status as a minority or a woman is the reason for their promotions and career achievements. After explaining this to my audience in Atlanta, I asked how many of them struggle this way, and nearly everyone raised their hand.

I now give a full presentation to audiences on the topic. People are hearing from someone who has had a successful career, telling them not to worry if they suffer this syndrome. I think it is an important thing to share, especially to young researchers. It is empowering for them. I tell them they can be very successful, the ACS president or even the U.S. president. Many extremely successful people suffer this syndrome.

As the ACS president for 2020, what is one thing you’d like to achieve?

There are a lot of things we are trying to do to continue promoting diversity and inclusion in the field, as well as to greatly improve upon our lack of collaboration with chemists from Central and South America. 

But if I had to highlight one initiative right now, it’s that I want to create a program for the U.S. similar to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Germany, where about 600 graduate students and post-docs from around the world get to meet with about 30 Nobel Laureate each year. It goes far beyond just scientific exchanges … they have social and mentoring interactions over a few days that are transformative, and those connections can last a lifetime.

The U.S. has the most Nobel Laureates in chemistry of any country, but we have nothing like this. I’ve proposed a program called LEADS (Lasting Encounters Between Aspiring and Distinguished Scientists). It would impact young chemists and chemical engineers each year in the U.S., creating high-level mentoring interactions for them with Nobel Laureates as well as with leading CEOs from the chemical industry. 

What message might you have for young chemists, such as those you’ll meet at NJIT?

My message is one of encouragement. You can do things that seem impossible. I try to excite my students by telling them, when you make a brand-new compound for the first time and put it in a vial, you are holding the world’s supply of that compound. It’s never been prepared by any other human being, and it doesn’t exist in nature. As chemists, we can actually make forms of matter that didn’t exist before, creating the objects that we can study for years. We are the only ones who can say that.