La Salle Chemistry Professor Michael Prushan Draws on Ancient Wisdom to Inspire his Students in Class and the Laboratory

The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” This is a favorite quote on the Web page of Michael Prushan, a Chemistry professor at La Salle University, whose own philosophy of teaching involves more than tests and textbooks.

Prushan is carrying on the Lasallian tradition of a more personal education by involving students in research. Currently, he’s collaborating with students on molecular magnetism and the reactions between metals and proteins.  Prushan takes student researchers to the annual national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Senior Mike Dao accompanied him to the conference in New Orleans this month.

“I want to do what others had done for me,” says Prushan, who graduated from La Salle in 1996 and joined the faculty in 2002, after earning his Ph.D. from Drexel University.  “I liked my experience at La Salle, the close-knit relationship with the teachers.”

Prushan credits his mentor, retired La Salle professor George Shalhoub, with inspiring him to continue his education in chemistry. He worked with Shalhoub on research regarding the florescence of molecules and appreciated the extra time and enthusiasm the professor put into mentoring his students.

“I had no doubts that he would become a good teacher and scientist,” Shalhoub said. “He was a dynamo, always working, always coming up with new ideas.”

As for Prushan’s return to his alma mater, Shaloub said, “La Salle is where he is meant to be -- to be giving to today's students what was given to him so many years ago.”

Shaloub’s mentoring, Prushan said, “really meant something to me, and that’s what I try to do.”

He also makes the classroom a fun and interesting environment.

“I try to interject weird analogies,” he explains. He goes on to describe chemistry as similar to the game Clue, in which smaller pieces of evidence are combined to create a bigger concept and solve a problem.

“Dr. Prushan has great relationships with students. He is very friendly and approachable,” said Dao, who has taken four courses with Prushan. “He connects to students on their level. Students can talk to him about anything, not just chemistry. Many students become good friends with him.”

“I have been performing research with Dr. Prushan since the summer of 2007,” added Dao.  “He can give valuable insight on how to perform a reaction or characterize a compound. He walks students through the process of chemistry research, from the literature search to the synthesis and characterization. Students learn what research is truly like.”

Last summer, Prushan worked with three 9th grade students who won the national eCYBERMISSION, a Web-based science, math and technology competition sponsored by the US Army.

Prushan’s students are so used to working with him in the laboratory that they may have a hard time imagining him having a life outside the laboratory. He and his wife Melissa are the parents of two daughters, Emma who is four and a half years old and Elisabeth who is one.

“I like to cook – I consider it chemistry at home -- and often spend time with Emma making bread, cakes and cookies,” Prushan said.   “We often make breakfast for the family together.  Emma aspires to be an artist and a scientist when she gets older ,and we do experiments together as well.”

--- Jennifer Portante