In the Pryor-England Science Building at Harding University in Searcy, along with the labs and classrooms expected on a university campus, there is one room that looks like it belongs in a science-fiction movie. With rockets, robots and NASA logos scattered among the computers and wires in the room, it is almost hard to remember the room is on a college campus and not in a specialized lab. What is even more incredible is that everything in there is a legitimate piece of research, some of it actually being conducted for NASA.
Ed Wilson, professor of physical chemistry at Harding University, conducts research in the lab, pointing out lasers used to detect methane gas and models of satellites his students will be constructing. He said that when he was younger he sometimes had a hard time figuring out what new research project to pursue, but now he has more than enough work and keeps finding new topics of interest into which he, his colleagues and his students can dig deep.
“We’re doing a whole lot of things,” he said with a smile.
Wilson has been a professor at Harding since 1970, and in that time he has been able to facilitate a deliberate shift toward research in the science department. He said when he initially arrived, he would bring in guest speakers for his classes to learn about different subjects. That wasn’t enough for Wilson, and he worked it out with his superiors to include more hands-on applications.
“I was very frustrated after I had been here at Harding for a while because I wanted to do research,” he said. “I wanted to practice my profession. Our department had almost nothing. … Several of these [visiting speakers] would invite me to do research at their institutions as a summer researcher, and it really helped me because I learned a lot about how to carry out high-level research.”
Wilson is originally from Alabama, but he said he is proud to have been an Arkansan for the past 45 years. Even though his roots are in Alabama, Wilson grew up all over the world as the son of a Navy man, attending 13 schools in 12 years.
“We lived in Hawaii and Panama when I was a teenager,” he said. “That was great for me because I got to play in the jungle and see the snakes and monkeys.”
After graduating from high school in Wickford, Rhode Island, Wilson knew he would go to college. His father was both his inspiration and a constant reminder that school was important.
“My dad was in electronics in the Navy,” Wilson said. “He used to bring home radios and cameras and I would get to tear them apart. Just about once a week, my dad would say, ‘Son, I want you to promise me that you’ll go to college and get a degree and you won’t get married until you get your degree.’ I kept [that promise], but it wasn’t my fault that I didn’t get married at that time. I did end up with a wonderful wife, and I have been blessed by God in that.”
Wilson got his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Auburn University and went on to the University of Alabama to get his master’s degree and doctorate in physical chemistry. That is also where he met his wife, Beth, who has been a professor in Harding’s family and consumer sciences department for more than 44 years.
After he got his doctorate degree, Wilson went to the University of Virginia for two years as a post-doctoral assistant specializing in biophysical chemistry.
“I studied how proteins and metals interact with each other,” he said. “Like platinum compounds that kill cancer cells and how chromium can be an essential trace element in one form and a cancer-producing agent in another form.”
When he was finished with his two years at the University of Virginia, Wilson said he started looking for jobs, specifically at schools connected with the Church of Christ denomination. Harding University needed a physical chemistry teacher at that time, so Wilson and his wife moved to Searcy in 1970 so he could take the job.
After Wilson spent five summers in different educational institutions learning more about research, he was encouraged to write a letter to NASA explaining that Harding would be interested in a research program.
“I called my president and asked him to write a letter saying we would like to be part of this new NASA program they had,” Wilson said. “He did, and as it turns out, I was on the founding committee to write a grant asking NASA to give the state of Arkansas money every year for undergraduate research and for faculty enrichment programs with NASA.
“It turned out this grant was for the National Space Program, which is a program of scholarships and fellowships primarily for undergraduates and for faculty members to develop infrastructure with NASA to get the have-not states up to a level where they can compete with the states that were getting more than $1 million a year of NASA’s money.”
Wilson was on that original committee for the state and has remained on it for 25 years. In that time, several of his students have done internships at various NASA centers and facilities around the country. Those experiences help students make connections and give them a foot in the door for post-graduate jobs and other opportunities, Wilson said.
While he still teaches a few classes each semester, Wilson has been able to focus on his own research, including a project intended to help NASA determine if there is life on Mars. Along with two other scientists, he is developing a robot with a laser that can detect gases that might be indicative of life on Mars.
“We went out to California to [NASA’s] Jet Propulsion Laboratory and we told them what we wanted to do,” he said. “At first they were skeptical, but then they said they liked the idea and they would support us. We got several grants, and the largest one was $670,000 to develop our robot.”
Other scientific research includes developing different satellites and rockets with his students. Involving students is an important part of his job, and Wilson said he enjoys seeing his students go on to be successful.
“If a student will do outside research while they’re undergraduates, when they go apply to graduate school or to get a job, they get better fellowships or they get the job that others don’t,” Wilson said. “I have about 10 students a year that I work with, and most of them get scholarships from the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium.”
Throughout his life, Wilson has had several hobbies outside of the lab and classroom. He used to photograph weddings and various campus events, and for a while he was part of a music group that played around town in which he played a dulcimer he made.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.