Background:

Since 2006, Dr. Gatechair has been an Adjunct Instructor of chemistry with the Natural Science Department and the College of Education of St. Petersburg College.  Starting in 2015 he is teaching Dual Enrollment Chemistry at Northeast High School.  This course is equivalent to CHM 1025 and 1025L and generates both highschool and college credit.

In 2016 - 2017, I am only teaching the Dual Enrollment class to Northeast High School students.  Other SPC students are not elligable to participate.  This means you cannot makeup labs in my sections.

In the classroom or laboratory, Dr. G. tries to make students think beyond the topic of the day, to consider how chemistry impacts our lives, our homes and our environment.  He utilizes a variety of online tools to augment the class room topics.  Courses he has taught recently range from Introductory Chemistry, General Chemistry Lab, Organic Chemistry Laboratory, and Introduction to Organic and Biological Chemistry (BCH 3023).  The latter course is particularly interesting as the students have interests varying from premed, chemistry, biology, nursing and science education.  The topics bring together chemistry and biology at the molecular level.

Dr. Gatechair has had an unusual career, having worked in the field of photopolymerization before, during and after his graduate work in chemistry at North Dakota State University.  Photopolymerization involves the use of light or ultraviolet radiation to start a polymerization process. Photopolymerization is useful for forming images for example in the production of printing plates, as well as in the curing of inks and varnishes on products ranging from beer cans to furniture and guitars. Photopolymer systems form environmentally friendly coatings as they generally have no solvent, and require little energy during the curing process.

During his 20 year industrial tenure at Ciba-Geigy Corp. and Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Dr. Gatechair initially worked on the development of photoinitiators (photocatalysts) and on improving the light and heat stability of photopolymers. After many years spent initiatiating polymerizations, his research  turned to inhibition and retardation of (preventing)  polymerization resulting in a series of patents which formed the technology base for a new Ciba business: prevention of unwanted polymer formation during the commercial distillation of monomers such as acrylic acid and styrene. These studies allowed him to publish over 60 publications including international patents. 

He received a BSc degree in chemistry and secondary education and a high school teaching certificate from Bradley University. During his undergraduate years at Bradley University,  he started a program collecting and analyzing particulate air pollution for metal content and developed software to correlate particulate levels with prevailing wind conditions.  The results of this program were broadcast on the Peoria Weather reporet each night.

Outside the classroom, Dr. G. enjoys sailing, hiking and guitar. He has over 5000 miles sailing along the Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico and in the Bahamas Islands on his sailboat Yankee. 

Feel free to give me a call if you are considering one of my courses and want to learn more about them.  727-six eight seven-8671.