Aimee Johnston '18 with professor of Chinese John Yin following the College of Arts and Sciences Awards Ceremony in May. A double major in Chinese and chemistry, Johnston is working at Albany Molecular Research, Inc.
What if you loved languages, and wanted to learn to speak and write Chinese? And what if you also loved science, and aspired to go to medical school? For Aimee Johnston, the answers were wrapped up in another question: “Why not do both?”
It wasn’t easy, but Johnston is here to tell you that with hard work and a little planning and persistence, it is definitely possible.
“I did it in four years,” Johnston said, who graduated this spring as a UVM Honors College Scholar, and is now working for Albany Molecular Research Incorporated in Albany, N.Y. “I had to map out my own academic plan because I was trying to do both a B.A. (Chinese) and a B.S. (chemistry).”
Johnston is the first to admit that her academic path was unconventional, but she knows several other students who are combining the humanities and sciences in interesting ways. Her friend John Sawyer Shaw is double majoring in Chinese and geology.
Her interest in Chinese stems from a language program supported by the Freeman Foundation in Vermont’s Windham County schools. As student in Brattleboro, she was fascinated by the intonations of the spoken language and the rich culture behind it. “Your brain gets used to associating a particular character with a sound or word or phrase,” she said. “After a while, writing becomes second nature, though you really do need a lot of practice in writing out the characters to start.”
The emphasis on memorization, repetition and logic is also at play in chemistry, and Johnston believes the two majors complemented each other in some unexpected ways. “In chemistry, you’re studying the shape of a molecule—in Chinese you’re playing with the shape of characters. I found that studying something besides a hard science helps me think a little more broadly.”
Her Chinese major also gave her the opportunity to study abroad and put her language skills to daily use through UVM’s joint program at Yunnan University in Kunming. The experience began with a two-week summer study tour, during which she and fellow UVM students visited Beijing Shanghai and Xi'an. Johnston then spent a summer and fall semester at Yunnan University.
“I’m glad I got to study in a province that’s a bit off the beaten track. Yunan is in southern China where there’s an interesting blend of different cultural minorities. The landscape is also very diverse—it’s where the rainforest meets the Tibetan Plateau.”
Johnston couldn’t take lab courses at Kunming, so after returning to UVM in the middle of her junior year she arranged her schedule to complete her chemistry requirements. She worked in the lab of professor Rory Waterman, which overlaps synthetic and catalytic chemistry with materials science, energy, and the environment.
“My research was a lovechild combining work that Professor Waterman and (emeritus) Professor Chris Allen were doing. I did lots of work with polyphosphazenes—polymers we use in flame retardants for a variety of products including clothing, O-rings, and pipelines. Chris Allen had refined a solvent-free synthesis for polymers, a process that reduces the environmental impact of making the polymer.”
Waterman supervised her Honors Thesis “Investigating a Catalytic Approach for the Polymerization Reaction of Dichlorophosphinylphosphorimidic Trichloride.”
The lab experience helped Johnston land her position at Albany Molecular Research, Inc., a company that contracts with other businesses to solve their chemical problems. “For instance, a pharmaceutical company may want us to figure out how to scale up production of a certain molecule they want for a particular medication,” explains Johnston.
After working in an academic lab, Johnston is curious about exploring the world of chemical research in the private sector. In the same way she assembled her plan of study at UVM, she’s putting together the pieces of her future—perhaps a few years in private industry, then a masters or a doctorate in chemistry. And there’s always China.
“I don’t have advanced plans but I’d love to work there as a chemist some day.” -- Aimee Johnston '18