Paul Coan

Teaching Professor of Chemistry

Phone:765-285-2196

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Room:FB 305

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)