Brent D. Koplitz: Chemistry Coach
When Tulane chemistry professor Brent Koplitz is not in the lab you will probably find him on the softball field. Koplitz coaches a traveling girls softball team that competes all over the country. Plus, he coaches a local baseball team. "It's a total change from chemistry," he says of his athletic pursuits. Coaching runs in his family. His parents were basketball coaches, and he enjoys the time he spends outside the lab.
Inside the laboratory, Koplitz is busy researching laser chemistry and its applications. He uses lasers to study projects ranging from simple chemical reactions to "space-age" polymers and nano-materials.
Professor Koplitz believes universities have two main functions: passing on knowledge and creating new knowledge. Koplitz, who chairs the Department of Chemistry at Tulane, excels at both; he teaches undergraduate and graduate classes, and he participates in research. He's been lauded for his teaching with awards from faculty and students – his awards include the Outstanding Dissertation Director Award from the Graduate School, the Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in Graduate Studies and the first Professor of the Year Award from Tulane Women in Science.
According to Koplitz, one of the strengths of Tulane's chemistry department is the fact that undergraduates are encouraged to get involved in research. "The faculty are very approachable," he says. "You will interact with the faculty here." He also praises the department's diversity; it attracts students from many states and from other countries, as well.
The South Bend, Washington native has grown fond of New Orleans. He and his wife, a chemistry professor at Loyola University, have raised two children here. "New Orleans is unique," he says. "I've been in a lot of major cities, and they are mostly the same." His stint as a softball coach has led him to visit many of the state's small towns, so he has an appreciation of Louisiana as well.
Koplitz finds chemistry fascinating because it is so broad. "They call it the central science," he says. Job prospects are bright for chemistry graduates, he says, in such fields as pharmaceuticals and the materials industry.
