Rate My Professor John Miecznikowski

John R. Miecznikowski is Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Fairfield University. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry with Honors from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, an M.S. in Inorganic Chemistry in 2001, and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry in 2004 from Yale University. At Yale, under Professor Robert H. Crabtree, his research developed new aspects of transition-metal N-heterocyclic carbene chemistry, including chelated iridium(III) bis-carbenes for transfer hydrogenation, reactivity in chelating bis-imidazolium salts, palladium(II) chelating pincer compounds, and ion-pairing effects in kinetic carbenes. Postdoctoral work as a Faculty Fellow at Boston University from 2004 to 2007 involved teaching General Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, and synthesizing Fe(II) and Fe(III) model complexes for the 2-His-1-carboxylate motif of mononuclear nonheme iron enzymes under Professor John Caradonna.

Miecznikowski joined Fairfield University as Assistant Professor of Chemistry in September 2007, advancing to Associate Professor in 2013 and full Professor. He teaches three courses per semester, focusing his research program on synthetic inorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and bioinorganic chemistry, with studies on copper(I) SNS pincer complexes, ligand design, solvent coordination, and conformer interconversion. Notable publications include 'Chelated iridium(III) bis-carbene complexes as air-stable catalysts for transfer hydrogenation' (Organometallics, 2002), 'Reactivity differences in the syntheses of chelating N-heterocyclic carbene complexes of rhodium' (Organometallics, 2004), 'Hydrogen transfer reduction of aldehydes with alkali-metal carbonates and iridium NHC complexes' (Organometallics, 2004), 'Copper(I) SNS Pincer Complexes: Impact of Ligand Design and Solvent Coordination on Conformer Interconversion' (Inorganica Chimica Acta, 2019), and 'trans-Diaquabis(N,N,N'-trimethylethylenediamine)-nickel(II) dichloride' (IUCrData, 2020). In 2011, he received Fairfield University's Undergraduate Teacher of the Year award from Alpha Sigma Nu. Miecznikowski has obtained grants such as NSF MRI for a MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer (2016-2019) and NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium awards. He chairs the University Advancement Committee, served as Interim Director of the Magis Core Curriculum, and mentors students presenting at American Chemical Society national meetings.