{"id":73583,"date":"2021-08-10T10:05:19","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T14:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=73583"},"modified":"2021-08-17T11:01:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T15:01:58","slug":"faculty-focus-chain-reaction-leads-travis-dudding-down-chemistry-career-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/08\/faculty-focus-chain-reaction-leads-travis-dudding-down-chemistry-career-path\/","title":{"rendered":"FACULTY FOCUS: Chain reaction leads Travis Dudding down chemistry career path"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: Faculty Focus is a monthly series that highlights faculty whose compelling passions, innovative ideas and various areas of expertise help weave together the fabric of Brock University\u2019s vibrant community. For more from the series,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many teen job hunters get their start washing dishes, but few do it in the laboratories of a comprehensive university.<\/p>\n

At only 13, Travis Dudding found himself in a molecular biology lab at Virginia Tech, washing dishes for researchers and soaking in as much knowledge as he possibly could.<\/p>\n

Fascinated by science and eager to learn, it wasn\u2019t long before the enthusiastic youngster was offered his first project: Finding a way to make potatoes more robust.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew I was curious and offered me this great opportunity, allowing me to do some work there,\u201d Dudding, now a Chemistry Professor at Brock University, said of the researchers who took him under their wing.<\/p>\n

It was while organizing elements on the laboratory shelves that Dudding got his first taste of what would become a lifelong love of chemistry.<\/p>\n

He developed skills during his summer in the biology lab that ultimately allowed him to branch out, next working with faculty in Virginia Tech\u2019s chemistry department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made these amazing connections in the laboratory, and they started to let me run reactions,\u201d Dudding says. \u201cIt was so cool to be able to make molecules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar to how his father, a mechanic, built cars, Dudding was drawn to the building of molecules.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s problem-solving,\u201d he says. \u201cI love my job because it has so many facets. Every day I get to go to work and solve a puzzle. Is it making this reaction, optimizing it, figuring out a hidden mechanism or discovering something new altogether? Every day is different, but the whole time what you\u2019re doing is improving human society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dudding says he\u2019s particularly interested in pharmaceutical and catalysis projects, because that\u2019s where he feels chemists can have the biggest impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing part of making a drug to save somebody\u2019s life is just wonderful,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing part of that and building technology to do that is extremely rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

While chemistry may now seem like the obvious choice, Dudding headed in a different direction when he graduated high school.<\/p>\n

Following his childhood dreams of becoming a quantum physicist, he first started in physics at Virginia Tech before again being swayed by the allure of chemistry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny because my research now has this unique blend of multidisciplinary aspects,\u201d Dudding says. \u201cWe do high-performance computing and quantum mechanics, but we also make molecules too. I think in many ways, your chemistry represents your person. It\u2019s like art.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even as he honed his chemistry skills in university, Dudding\u2019s drive to make a difference was hard to ignore.<\/p>\n

He opted to take two years away from his studies to work for a company developing the first anti-HIV drug, AZT. In the research position, he worked on the chemistry for the groundbreaking drug.<\/p>\n

After returning to Virginia Tech and completing his undergraduate degree, Dudding worked on several projects as a research fellow with the National Institutes of Health, before completing his master\u2019s and PhD at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.<\/p>\n

With a newfound interest in computational chemistry, Dudding moved across the country to Los Angeles, Calif., to do his post-doctoral studies at UCLA.<\/p>\n

He joined Brock\u2019s Department of Chemistry in 2004.<\/p>\n

Dudding has since worked on many innovative projects, most recently partnering with a Niagara pharmaceutical company on COVID-19 prevention and treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI care about people and about our society,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d like to do what I can to leave a good planet for the next generation. What I can do as a chemist is make molecules to improve people\u2019s quality of life and help save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his role as an educator, Dudding also hopes to make an impact, providing opportunities to the next generation similar to those offered to him so many years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy students are like family to me,\u201d he says. \u201cI care about their well-being and their future and want to see them succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While chemistry may seem intimidating to some, Dudding assures there\u2019s \u201cnothing to be afraid of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like learning a language,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just another way to communicate. It\u2019s fascinating how powerful these simple symbols can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many teen job hunters get their start washing dishes, but few do it in the laboratories of a comprehensive university. At only 13, Travis Dudding found himself in a molecular biology lab at Virginia Tech, washing dishes for researchers and soaking in as much knowledge as he possibly could.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":73584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3319,41,1,4,5],"tags":[48,1590,8634,348,3580],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73661,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73583\/revisions\/73661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}