STEWART HO
Staff Writer
Pepperdine professor of chemistry, Dr. David Green, was hard at work grading papers, something he’s been doing at Pepperdine for 20 years.
“It’s a busy time with finals,” he said with a smile.
But long before Green came to Pepperdine, his pathway was defined by an unwavering lifelong dream that didn’t necessarily include the grading papers part.
“When I was eight years old we were going around in the first day of class and the teacher asked us what we want to be,” said Green. “Everyone raised their hands and said nurse, doctor, cowboy, firemen, and when it came to my turn I said either a nuclear physicist or chemist.
“The kids in my class said to me that ‘you can’t be a nuclear physicist, you have to be smart to be a nuclear physicist,’ so from then on I decided to become a chemist.”
Green’s passion at a young age should not be a surprise, however. Describing his family as a “pile of scientists” with his father holding a Ph.D. in physiology and his brother a Ph.D. in chemistry, Green was surrounded by science as an everyday part of his childhood.
With his father working as a life science engineer for NASA, Green grew up with access to a lot of things the average kid didn’t. Green even had the chance to meet astronauts such as Neil Armstrong before Armstong’s historical trip to the moon, and another famous moon-walker, Buzz Aldrin.
These and other experiences, which Green considered monumental in his life, also spurred what would become a life-long passion with astronomy.
In 6th grade Green found yet another science-related interest, and one that would become a source of income for him.
“When I was in junior high, I started a business of electronics repair,” Green said. “I had neighbors and people bringing me things to fix for them so I got into fixing televisions, radios, and even an occasional hair dryer.
“I supplemented my income to the point where my allowance was smaller than my business income and I did that all the way through high school,” said Green.
But Green’s deepest interest is in chemistry, and when he began his undergraduate studies at Abilene Christian University there were no questions about his choice of a major.
“From the very beginning [of classes in college] I knew what I was in for,” said Green. “I never found it particularly hard despite the fact I’d get Bs or Cs in classes like psychology or English.
“I couldn’t write in my native language, but chemistry was no sweat,” said Green jokingly.
While a career involving chemistry was a certainly for Green, the teaching part wasn’t.
While working for the Riverside County search and recovery diving team as a graduate student at University of California, Riverside, Green received a call from ACU with news that one of their research advisors had passed away. Green was asked if he had any interest in filling the opening.
“I had to do soul searching,” said Green. “I had just applied to a number of industrial positions that I had been planning on my entire life without getting any return phone calls and suddenly ACU sails in and asks if I wanted to throw my hat in that arena.”
Green eventually agreed and decided to become a teacher.
Green said that the teachers who most influenced him during his own college experience made the best models. “I liked what they did so I patterned some of my initial teaching on them.”
The rest is history, and though Green remains modest about it, insisting that he doesn’t know how to teach except to get up in front of the class and “show them how I think through different problems,” those who have had him have nothing but praise.
“Dr. Green was always enthusiastic and made a point to use really entertaining examples,” said Daniel Cho, sophomore who had him as a freshman. “Taking him as a first-year student made me realize the complexity of chemistry and he gave me a totally different spin on my view of chemistry than before.”
Besides a busy teaching life at Pepperdine with courses from chemistry to astronomy, Green is dedicated in spending time with his wife Daphne and their two daughters ages 7 and 9 as well as their four dogs, three horses, one parrot, four hermit crabs, and a variety of fish.
Now that’s a family.
In his free time he loves spending time outdoors with his family in a number of activities including riding and raising their horses, scuba diving, ocean kayaking, and photography.
“I try to stay really busy,” explained Green. “I want to do as many things as I can that are different and fun and in the process get my girls involved as much as I can so they can explore the world.
“Part of that is not being plugged in a TV.”
Despite his passion for chemistry, Green doesn’t mind if his daughters grow up not sharing his level of enthusiasm for the sciences.
“If they want to be a scientist that’s great. If they want to do something else that’s great as well,” said Green. “They just have to love what they do when they figure out their careers.”
Green’s message in the classroom is similar.
“Learn everything that you can about everything,” Green said regarding his teaching philosophy. “ . . . Whatever it is you do, be passionate.”
05-18-2007