Students always treated as colleagues<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\u201cI did not feel that students were \u2018working under me\u2019 during their time here,\u201d he says. \u201cI treated them like professional colleagues. I think that approach made them more motivated and successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jialong Shen, a former student and current colleague of Tonelli\u2019s, praises him for teaching by example and demonstrating how to live a life doing what you love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s helped a countless number of students to get where they wanted to be,\u201d Shen says, \u201cincluding students from all age groups and backgrounds. I feel deeply indebted to him for all the attributes that I now possess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhile Tonelli has spent a lot of time in the East, he\u2019s actually a native of the Midwest who earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas. In fact, he grew up in Cicero, Illinois, home of the infamous gangster Al Capone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy first home was located just down the street from one of Al Capone\u2019s bungalows,\u201d he remembers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Studied polymer chemistry at Stanford<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nCapone\u2019s career choices eventually took him to California, where he spent time at Alcatraz. Tonelli\u2019s career path also took him to California, where he spent time earning a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry at Stanford University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That focus on chemistry was not preordained, he says. Fortunately, a chemistry professor at the University of Kansas took an interest in Tonelli, because he proved to be a standout student in physical chemistry, a course that can trip up even the brightest chemistry scholars. He encouraged Tonelli to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), and his GRE performance gained him a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This led to his application to and acceptance as a graduate student in Stanford\u2019s chemistry department. There he was fortunate enough to find an academic advisor (Paul J. Flory) who was not only good at physical chemistry, but also subsequently won a Nobel Prize for his achievements in polymer science. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He lets students loose to find answers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nTonelli appreciated his graduate advisor because he didn\u2019t micro-manage the student researchers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe gave us options and a general sense of direction,\u201d Tonelli remembers, \u201cand then let us loose to go find answers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve met very few people who\u2019ve enjoyed their careers as much as I\u2019ve enjoyed mine.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Tonelli adopted this same approach at the Wilson College, and his interest in breaking bread with students is also a throwback to his time at Stanford. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBack then we made tea by adding tea leaves to boiling water heated with a Bunsen burner,\u201d he recalls, \u201cand our advisor would hang around the lab and drink tea with us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publishing provides a broader audience<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nIn addition to his other attributes, Tonelli is known for being an extraordinarily prolific writer. He\u2019s produced more than 130 single-author papers and collaborated with other researchers on another 450. He\u2019s written three books as well, believing these publications are fundamental to his mission as an educator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPublishing,\u201d he says, \u201cis simply the way you share the results of your studies with a much broader audience.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nTonelli was not seriously considering retirement until COVID hit. Being sequestered for long periods of time, he jokes that he and his spouse \u201cfound out we could actually get along.\u201d He also enjoyed spending more time with his four local grandchildren, ages six through 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked what he will miss the most, he says \u2013 not surprisingly \u2013 it will be interaction with students. Nonetheless, he\u2019ll be leaving academia with few if any regrets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve met very few people,\u201d he says, \u201cwho\u2019ve enjoyed their careers as much as I\u2019ve enjoyed mine.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He retires with over 500 publications and a legacy of guiding students to successful careers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":49509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"\",\"displayCategoryID\":490}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[742,490,512,479],"tags":[1143,1668,1382],"displayCategory":{"term_id":490,"name":"Our People","slug":"our-people","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":490,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":610,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"
Al Tonelli's Personal Touch Endeared Him to Generations of Students - Wilson College of Textiles<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n