Spring 2002 -- Vol. 19, No. 1

FACES OF PENN STATE

Sharon Hammes-Schiffer
Shaffer Faculty Development Professor in Science

Chemist Sharon Hammes-Schiffer combines skills as a lecturer, researcher, and teacher that make her a valuable part of the Department of Chemistry—as well as someone who must, and does, manage time well.

An organized office offers some insight into the personality and work habits of Sharon Hammes-Schiffer. A neatly drawn diagram covers part of the dry erase board on one wall and the office itself, located on the second floor of Whitmore Laboratory, remains a clean, orderly model of efficiency.

Such efficiency, along with abundant hard work and talent, accounts for a large part of her success as a researcher and scientist. A physical chemist, her research interests include protein-coupled electron transfer and hydride transfer in enzymes.

“We’ve developed a new theoretical formulation for describing proton-coupled electron transfer reactions,” Hammes-Schiffer says. “We started from the basics and derived a very useful technique for calculating rates and mechanisms of those type of reactions.”

Already, Hammes-Schiffer’s work has earned her numerous awards, among them the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 1999, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship in 1998, and a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation in 1996.

More importantly, her colleagues in the Department of Chemistry recognize the importance of her theoretical work, which has led to collaborations regarding enzyme reactions with Stephen Benkovic, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Chemistry.

“Working with an experimentalist is very important,” Hammes-Schiffer says. “Professor Benkovic has designed these wonderful experiments and has obtained a lot of data on an important enzymatic system.”

Still, Hammes-Schiffer’s impact at Penn State goes far beyond her theories. According to Daniel J. Larson, Dean of the Eberly College of Science, she makes tangible contributions in many ways.

“She is an excellent lecturer, dedicated teacher, and dynamic young scientist with an international reputation as an outstanding theoretical chemist,” Larson says. “Her work is an excellent example of how modern theoretical chemistry can make significant contributions to important chemical and molecular problems.”

Her efficiency also enables Hammes-Schiffer to strike a productive balance between her research and theoretical efforts at Penn State and her home life.

After all, the day never really ends when she leaves campus. At that time, things are only just beginning.

Once home, she and her husband—Peter Schiffer, associate professor of physics—split duties preparing dinner and reading or playing piano with their two sons. After that, the routine boils down to baths, snacks and relax—albeit briefly.

“There’s not a lot of time to just sit and relax,” Hammes-Schiffer says. “At that time of night, you can get a lot of work done. It's a good time to read e-mails, and a good time to look at problems and try to find an approach that works. You can always find more things to do.”

Especially if you know how to be efficient.

-- Steve Sampsell

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