“In hindsight, it was the best situation I could have asked for,” said Associate Professor Michael Nichols of accepting the position in the JCU Department of Chemistry in 1996.

Many students studying science at John Carroll University can recall having Nichols as a professor for their chemistry courses. Nichols boasts an impressive resume, having worked at an Ivy League college and currently being chair of the JCU Department of Chemistry. More than just having remarkable credentials, Nichols has fun with his students, such as the time he dressed up as ‘Santa Mole’ during finals week this past semester.

Nichols grew up not too far from his current home of University Heights. “I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, Warren, which is about an hour east of Erie. I went to Clarion University of Pennsylvania for undergrad, and I got a degree in Chemistry.”

Nichols chose the major because it fit his practical interests. “I chose Chemistry because I was interested in science and numbers and trying to figure out how things work. I really just kind of fell into Chemistry.”

If he did not go into Chemistry, Nichols said he probably would have been an accountant, having been influenced by an affable neighbor growing up. “You know when you’re in high school you have to write that report on what your career goal is, and my neighbor down the street was an accountant. I remember talking to him about it, and you know, I probably just liked the numbers.”

After his undergraduate studies, Nichols immediately began pursuing his doctoral degree at Duke University. “I got my PhD in sort of Physical Organic Chemistry or Mechanistic Chemistry. That’s mostly studying how reactions occur,” said Nichols.

Nichols chose to study this type of Chemistry over others, like analytical chemistry, because he did not particularly like the professor that taught Analytical Chemistry at the doctoral level in his program. “There was only one professor doing Analytical  and I didn’t really appreciate the research they were doing, so I decided to look more at Organic and work for my advisor who was doing more of the mechanistic type of work.”

After graduating from Duke, he worked as a postdoc for two years at Brown University. A postdoc, explained Nichols, is continued research following receiving a PhD. In this position, he slightly changed his main field of research to begin looking at structures of molecules in solution and when they were dissolved. “I did that type of research as a postdoc, but then I also did X-ray crystallography.”

Nichols broke down the process of X-ray crystallography into understandable terms. “If you want to get the exact structure of anything, any kind of molecule, you can very slowly cool it in a solution and it’ll make a perfect crystal a diamond. After you cut the diamond, it would be like a perfect crystal. Or if you ever see a square cube of salt, that’s a crystal. So, when you pass an X-ray beam through it you can determine the structures, and this was another technique of determining the structures.”

After finishing his time as a postdoc, he taught organic Chemistry at Kansas State University for a year, followed by a year at Ohio University. When reflecting on his time at these schools, much larger than John Carroll, he said, “It was okay. I mean, I got a chance to learn how to make all my mistakes there, where nobody would really see them. They’re like, 20,000-student universities. It was definitely different than what I experienced at Clarion in my undergrad.”

Nichols said that most chemists face a fork in the road regarding whether to go into academia or into the industry. For him, the choice was made pretty simple “I can’t say I had a burning desire to go into academia, it’s just that there were no industrial positions that were ever offered to me, so I went into academia.”

His time teaching at Kansas State and Ohio University allowed him to learn patience when dealing with students, he said, and he thought he would enjoy being a professor for the rest of his life.

Nichols said that when interviewing for jobs,  JCU quickly became a top choice for him, and he was delighted to accept a teaching position. “We had a masters program then, and a brand new instrument that was key to my research, and it was close to my parents in Pennsylvania,” said Nichols.

When asked what he enjoyed most about JCU, he said the unapologetic social justice nature of the college had always appealed to him. “You don’t have to apologize for doing service here.”

One of his favorite memories was dressing as Santa Mole this past fall semester during one of the days of finals week, which featured the head of a mole, but the body of Santa Claus. He also enjoyed going on an immersion trip to Kentucky many years ago.

Overall, Nichols loves the students he gets to teach every semester. “I’ve seen a lot of students come through, and they’re very good, real people. They have interests outside of science. They’re in sports. They’re presidents of their sororities and fraternities. They have interesting experiences, and that’s interesting to us as professors.”