Credit: C&EN/Shutterstock/University of Pennsylvania
Madeleine Joullié
On getting there
Madeleine Joullié joined the University of Pennsylvania as the first female instructor in the Department of Chemistry in 1953—a time when the chemistry building had no women’s restrooms and it was difficult to recruit students to join her laboratory. She later would be the first female organic chemist to be appointed to a tenure-track position at a major university in the US.
“I never thought about being the first,” says Joullié. “I just thought about doing it: I want to do it, I’m going to do it.”
Joullié retired only a handful of years ago, at the age of 94. Her long and influential chemistry career began with earning her bachelor’s of science in chemistry at Simmons College in 1949. “But it didn't seem so long, because I loved what I was doing,” Joullié says.
Joullié’s main areas of research included heterocyclic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, natural product total synthesis, physical chemistry, and chemistry education.
She does not remember ever being bored in the lab. Thinking about the highlights of her career, she says, “I spent all my time in the lab, practically. At the beginning, it was every day, including the weekend, from morning to night—I really enjoyed it all.”
On mentorship
Throughout her career, Joullié was well known for her mentorship too—though she never thought of it as such. “I always try to help people. I give them my advice that I think is going to be helpful,” she says. “I mean, my advice is free, and you can throw out what doesn’t work for you.”
Diane Hauze, one of Joullié’s former students, says she wouldn’t have earned her master’s degree or PhD without Joullié’s help. “I was unprepared to start graduate classes but willing to work very hard. She had me review the undergraduate textbook to get the foundation I needed, then things seemed to go much better,” Hauze says. She recalls the freedom Joullié gave her to try different reactions and ideas as she progressed in her studies. From this, she learned to advocate for ideas that might not seem that great at first but, when they work, make a big impact. “[Joullié] may have said, ‘I don’t think that will work,’ but never said not to try it.”
You have to pay attention to constructive criticism, even if sometimes you don’t like it. But the other criticism, destructive criticism, you should totally ignore—just put it out of your mind.
Madeleine Joullié, Professor, retired, University of Pennsylvania
A close colleague, K. C. Nicolaou, says Joullié was extremely important to his career: “She paid a lot of attention to my first appointment as an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania.”
Former student Matthew Vera says, “Having benefited immensely from Madeleine’s mentorship, I have tried to provide mentorship to my own colleagues throughout my career.”
Magid Abou-Gharbia, who joined Joullié’s research group while studying for his PhD, considers Joullié not just a mentor but also an effective colleague and friend. He calls her an inspiring chemist and has always been struck by how far above and beyond she seemed to go for those she was helping. He says she was the type of person who would record you practicing for an interview and then take the time to review the recording with you. He also says she played an important role as “the nominator”—taking on the work that goes into preparing nominations for awards. She was always taking the time to recommend those around her for recognition, he says.
On service to society
Joullié joined the American Chemical Society as a member in 1948. Like the University of Pennsylvania, Joullié says, the ACS was very different during that time. She wanted the society to do and offer more to members. She remembers walking up to someone who appeared to be in charge of one of the meetings she was attending and saying, “I want to be a councilor,”—an elected position in the ACS. She remembers being shrugged off and told to come back when she was a councilor. “I came back, and I gave them enough trouble. . . . I really wanted them to have more for the members,” Joullié says, clarifying that it wasn’t really trouble, just the good kind. Joullié feels like ACS has become more of a member-focused society—which is nice to see, knowing it was a big movement at hand when she started and a change she advocated.
In her 78 years as an ACS member, Joullié has received numerous ACS awards that highlight her commitment to research, her efforts in fostering the interests of women in chemistry, and her distinguished level of professionalism in chemistry, including the Philadelphia Section Award, the Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal, the Henry Hill Award, the ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences, and the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award.
Abou-Gharbia says Joullié continuously worked to increase ACS membership in the US and internationally and credits her as a role model of inspiration and encouragement in helping Abou-Gharbia establish the ACS Pharma Leaders Conference, among other initiatives. “All of this because Madeleine always wants to inspire chemists,” he says.
Madeleine Jacobs, former CEO of ACS, identifies the theme of Jouillé’s career and their work together on initiatives within the society as persistence. “She taught me to never take no for an answer,” Jacobs says.
In addition to her service in the ACS, Jouillé was the first affirmative action officer at the University of Pennsylvania, which she said, in an interview with Penn Today, is one of the most important things she’s done.
On types of advice
When it comes to overcoming any challenges Jouillé faced along the way, her distilled answer for keeping on is simple, although humorous, as we both laughed at how simple it sounds: “Ignoring them.”
“You have to concentrate on what you want to do and what you can do—and as usual, you know tomorrow is another day,” Jouillé says. “Decide what you like, and do it.”
Joullié explains in life one often gets two kinds of advice: constructive criticism and bad criticism. “You have to pay attention to constructive criticism, even if sometimes you don’t like it. But the other criticism, destructive criticism, you should totally ignore—just put it out of your mind.” For example, if somebody says you shouldn't be doing this profession, she says, “you shouldn’t pay attention. If you like the profession, if that's what you want to do, you should do it.”
While her advice is usually intended for all, she did have some specific advice for women in the chemistry field: “I think that most women today are doing well [compared with when Jouillé started]. What I would advise is that they do their thing rather than try to imitate men.” She emphasizes the importance of not being afraid to do what you do well and bringing that with you wherever you end up.
Joullié always liked to remind her students that everyone has bad days and good days. She specifies that sometimes they’d get discouraged because their research was not going well. “I used to tell them, ‘Cheer up, wherever that came from, you still have a lot of ideas . . . so as long as you’re alive, you can do a lot.’ ”
Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
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