Paul Coan
Associate Teaching Professor of Chemistry
About Me
I grew up in southeastern Michigan. Three of my grandparents graduated from college, so my family expected me to attend college. Although both my parents were teachers, I didn’t consider teaching as a career. Only when I was in graduate school did I discover that mentoring students was very satisfying. I started teaching at BSU in 1994.
My College Experience
I started out as a computer science major, but graduated with a BS in Chemistry from Hope College. As an undergraduate, I did two summers of polymer chemistry research at the U. of Detroit. I received my PhD from IU Bloomington in Inorganic Chemistry. Afterwards, I did a Post-Doc at U. South Carolina
What I have Learned
Keep your mind and options open. College should be a time of discovery about yourself, your interests, and your abilities. Changing my major wasn’t a major problem since I had been taking courses all along as a backup. Speaking to groups terrified me through college, but now I make my living doing exactly that.
Degree History
Indiana University Ph.D. (1992)
Indiana University M.S. (1989)
Hope College B.S. (1986)