By Sarah Dolan, News Staff, and Bill Shaner, News Staff
Dr. Bill Giessen, a chemistry and mechanical engineering professor at Northeastern, died at Brigham and Women’s Hospital March 25 after a long illness. He was 77.
Throughout his 40 years of teaching, Dr. Giessen was recognized as an Outstanding Educator of America in American Men and Women of Science, according to The Boston Globe.
“He was a true scholar, dedicated to the student experience, also had a strong research program in materials chemistry,” Chair of the Chemistry Department Graham Jones said. “He’s always been insistent on quality both in what he does and also the type of education he delivers.”
Dr. Giessen was born in Pittsburgh, Penn. in 1932, but moved to Germany with his family at a young age. He went on to graduate from Goettingen University in Germany, where he received an ScD in Metallurgy. Dr. Giessen completed his graduate study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before being hired as an assistant professor at Northeastern.
He also served as the Associate Director of the Barnett Institute of Chemical Analysis and Material Science at Northeastern since it was established in 1973.
Barry Karger, current director and founder of the Barnett Institute, said Dr. Giessen played an active role in the institute from the beginning. The biggest impact he had, Karger said, was in mentoring the graduate and undergraduate students that assisted in Barnett Institute research.
“It was a big loss for us, for me personally,” said Karger, also a colleague of Dr. Giessen in the chemistry department. “I’ve known him for many, many years.”
Dr. Giessen also published 225 papers and held 15 patents on materials and alloys, according to an e-mail the Provost sent to students.
In 1990, Dr. Giessen was awarded the William Hume-Rothery Award from The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society and the Klein University Lecturer honor from Northeastern.
Later in life, Dr. Giessen switched his interest from material chemistry to a field called chemometrics, an interdisciplinary study that combines chemistry and economics and is essentially a mathematically based study of chemical markets, Jones said.
Jones also attested to the personal merit of Dr. Giessen as a colleague.
“He was a proactive, selfless citizen of the department,” he said. “He had a great lens with his work on committees to ensure that he gave valuable input and reflective thought.”
Dr. Giessen was heavily influenced by his childhood in Nazi Germany and worked to establish respect and education for the Jewish and German communities at Northeastern, as well as the entire university. Dr. Giessen created the Robert Solomon Morton Lecture series which is presented each year during Holocaust Awareness Week and the Gustel C. Giessen Memorial Lecture in Jewish Studies. He also established the Gideon Klein Award, which enables a student from Northeastern, Hebrew College or the New England Conservatory to study the work of artists persecuted by the Nazis, according to an e-mail sent to Northeastern students.
Debra Kaufman, a former head of the Jewish Studies Department, said Dr. Giessen’s support for Holocaust awareness and Jewish studies indispensable.
“He gave more than money,” she said. “He was an active executive board member, he was actively involved in helping us think through the direction of the Jewish studies program … He was very, very influential and an absolute supporter of Jewish studies as an important curriculum and program in the university. He felt it was absolutely critical.
Looking back on Dr. Giessen’s time at Northeastern, chemistry department and Barnett Institute colleague John Engen said, “He was one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. He gave me a lot of good advice, he always had something very wise to say, and I’m going to miss that part.”
Dr. Giessen is survived by his wife, Mary Carolyn Burns, daughter, Nora, and grandchildren, Fredrike and Bruno Giron-Giessen.
A memorial service will be held today at noon in the Sacred Space on the second floor of Ell Hall. Professor Karger will speak along with other colleagues and Dr. Giessen’s daughter.
