Interacting one-on-one with students to help them use NMR to answer their scientific questions is the highlight of my day.
- Meet Cathy Clewett. Cathy has been in the department since May 2019 and serves as the Assistant Director for the Magnetic Resonance Facility. She helps maintain the facility, repair instrumentation, train students, and — most importantly — help researchers develop NMR experiments to further their research. Her primary specialty is in solid-state NMR and I am the person to talk to about SQUID magnetometry to characterize magnetic properties and Mössbauer spectroscopy for Fe-containing materials. In general, her research revolves around using NMR to characterize materials. If there is an unusual form of NMR, she’s probably done it or helped to develop it. “I enjoy the people and the variety of projects we get to work on,” says Cathy. “There are always new projects and new people to work with.” Before moving to Madison, she was a professor of physics in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at West Texas A&M University and ran her own NMR lab. She’s also worked as a scientist at DOE National Laboratories, a visiting scientist with the USDA, a staff scientist at a non-profit research company, a Fulbright Scholar in Prague, and a middle and high school teacher. She holds a Ph.D. from New Mexico Tech and an AM from Washington University in St. Louis. Outside of work, Cathy is a semi-professional harpist. “I love playing music, singing, hiking, and going on ‘adventures’ — exploring in nature and in the kitchen — with my husband, Don, and my son, Sam,” says Cathy.
- Let’s learn more about you with our Staff Spotlight! Tell us what you do for the Department of Chemistry and a little about yourself. It’s easy and just takes a few minutes. Click here to respond.