Once in a Lifetime

By Jenny Barnett, February 7, 2024

Nobel winner visits campus to interact with students.

Scientist and Nobel Prize winner M. Stanley Whittingham had multiple meetings with several Ithaca College students during his visit to IC, which also included a pair of public lectures.

(Photo by Akiko Fillinger)

It’s not every day that, as an undergraduate, you get to have dinner with a Nobel Prize winner. But that’s what happened to a handful of Ithaca College students earlier this year when renowned scientist M. Stanley Whittingham—who, along with two others, received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries—visited South Hill for a series of lectures, plus a number of small-group sit-downs.

Whittingham currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Institute for Materials Research and the Materials Science and Engineering program at Binghamton University, as well as director of the NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage.

Biochemistry major Birsen Gurkaynak ’24, attended both Whittingham’s technical lecture covering the past and future of lithium batteries, as well as a dinner with other students and faculty members.

Whittingham’s research didn’t align specifically with Gurkaynak’s interests, but she was fascinated by the broad value of his work.

“I was, at first, very intimidated. But he was really fun and friendly—and he was asking me questions. Meeting with him made me feel like the Nobel Prize is real and it's achievable.”

Birsen Gurkaynak ’24

“I'm studying Alzheimer's right now, but I was interested in his talk since it's an area that has affected everything in science. Lithium batteries are everywhere—in our phones, in our computers,” she said. “It was such an experience to get to meet someone considered to have brought great things to the world.”

And as for getting face-to-face time with a Nobel Laureate?

“I was, at first, very intimidated. But he was really fun and friendly—and he was asking me questions,” recalled Gurkaynak. “Meeting with him made me feel like the Nobel Prize is real and it's achievable.”

Whittingham, who regularly travels to college campuses to lecture and engage with students, believes it is critical to support and encourage young scientists.

“They are the next generation that is going to keep this world going,” he said. “We have to encourage more students to get interested in STEM and we have to get them interested in the importance of a cleaner, greener environment.

“I had two mentors in high school, and my tutor advisor at Oxford was also very enthusiastic and positive, encouraging me all the way along,” he added. “If you don’t have encouragement, you get stuck.”

“I was very impressed by the students I met. And I was impressed overall by Ithaca College.”

Stanley Whittingham

Whittingham wants to get students excited about what we're doing and why it's important. And he relished the opportunity to meet with IC students.

“They were clearly all outstanding. I was very impressed by the students I met,” he said. “And I was impressed overall by Ithaca College.”

Whittingham shared with the students that for his work on lithium batteries he had to take politics into account; he had to collaborate with an engineer on the physical aspects of the research. The professor encouraged students to be well rounded in their approach to knowledge.

“Even if you're in biology, you have to know chemistry,” Gurkaynak said, recognizing that science is interdisciplinary.

Arthur Robbins-Geller ’24, an environmental studies major with a minor in outdoor adventure pursuits was able to have a one-on-one meeting with Whittingham, alongside IC professor Akiko Fillinger.

Robbins-Geller was curious about the field’s impact on environmental science issues.

In their one-on-one meeting, Robbins-Geller asked Whittingham clarifying questions about lithium extraction to delve more deeply into some of the points Whittingham made in his lectures.

“It was so amazing,” said Robbins-Geller. “I was very excited for it. But kind of nervous. I came with a ton of questions. It felt like a very generous use of his time.

“My questions were mostly larger-systems related,” said Robbins-Geller. “I asked him about resource extraction and production of batteries in the same country, which isn't very common.”

He added that time with Whittingham had given him “a new baseline understanding of a key topic to discuss—which is renewable energy usage and batteries.” It felt like a new tool in my pocket of discussion.”