Jeffrey “Jeff ” Schwartz, professor of chemistry, will transfer to emeritus status on July 1, 2022, following fifty-two years on the Princeton faculty. Jeff has enjoyed many distinguished scholarly achievements in surface and interface chemistry, pioneering the field of organozirconium chemistry and providing major contributions to the development of phosphonate monolayers. Jeff describes his career as “the Zirconium zigzag,” a winding and naturally evolving investigation of the properties of his favorite transition metal.  Jeff was born in New York City and grew up in the town of Dobbs Ferry, New York. His early interest in chemistry was fanned by a high school teacher who taught both physics and chemistry, such that comparisons could easily be drawn between the two. Chemistry had an almost Goldilocks appeal for Jeff: physics was all about quantum, biology was all about big molecules, and chemistry, he said, had “just the right intellectual fit.” 

The only male in his graduating high school class who was not drafted into the Vietnam War, Jeff recalls a young adulthood nevertheless marked by the social upheavals that rent the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an undergraduate doing research in organometallics under George Whitesides and earned his degree in chemistry in 1966. Jeff went on to Stanford University, where he earned his doctorate in 1970 in organic photochemistry. 

In the early spring of 1970, Jeff and his wife, Laraine, drove from California to the East Coast, where Jeff intended to pursue postdoctoral work at Columbia University. However, the student shootings at Kent State University on May 4 forced the temporary closure of many universities across the country and effectively ended his postdoctoral plans. He had already been hired as an assistant professor at Princeton so he began his independent research career at Princeton earlier than anticipated, starting in May of 1970 as one of six assistant professors in the Department of Chemistry. 

Almost immediately, Jeff set about working in organometallics. This led to a series of papers on organozirconium chemistry, which he is widely credited with discovering, and on developing these as reagents for organic synthesis. In fact, a chemical compound he introduced for various transformations in organic synthesis was named after him: zirconocene chloride hydride, known generally as “Schwartz’s reagent.” His successes in the field earned him tenure at Princeton. 

Advice Jeff received from mentors at MIT and Stanford was never far from his mind: if specific research ceased to be “fun,” he was told, then he should move on to a new project. This led to a scientific mindset always eager for a new area of investigation. In 2001, Jeff ’s lab introduced self-assembled monolayers of phosphonates to the chemistry world as a class of structurally variable, well-organized, dense coatings for metal oxides. These so-called SAMPs were the first examples of stable surface chemistry for titanium, a metal that had been thought previously to be impervious to such treatment. SAMPs are now widely applicable to biomedical and electronic devices. 

Jeff disavows the idea of siloed fields of research, instead searching out strong collaborations. One of his most productive was with Steven Bernasek, professor of chemistry, emeritus. Their work in ultrahigh vacuum examined the organometallic chemistry of oxide surface modification and of interfaces important in electronic device construction. This led to the publication of several highly cited articles detailing the surface chemistry of indium tin oxide (ITO) and methods for controlling the electronic properties of this important transparent electrode material. 

Jeff ’s lab was known for cultivating the careers of women chemists at all levels of their professional development; at one point the lab employed more women than any other in the department. Altogether, he mentored some fifty graduate students and over seventy undergraduates. He also served on the department’s building committee and worked to recreate the labs in the former Frick complex, which were then “loaned” to the founding faculty of the Department of Molecular Biology until their own building at Princeton was completed. 

A stint as a visiting professor at the University of Paris in 1984 thrilled Jeff as a Francophile. His love of the French language, fine French bread and pastry, and the art of conversation on all manner of subjects became signature features. 

Jeff loved teaching and is delighted to be in touch with so many of his former students. His favorite undergraduate course was Chemistry 408, or Junior/Senior Inorganic Chemistry. Jeff used the course as a vehicle to teach the scientific method and above all wanted his students to understand: “There are no textbooks for the real world.” 

One of his proudest moments as a professor came in 2012 when he received the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, for which he was nominated by current and former students. His students gave him a standing ovation during that year’s commencement celebration. 

The faculty, staff, and Schwartz Lab alumni look forward to celebrating Jeff ’s scientific legacy at a celebration in his honor in June, with former colleagues and advisees arriving from all over the world to be among the speakers. Among them are two former undergraduates, two former graduate students, and two postdoctoral coworkers. Jean Schwarzbauer, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biology, his longtime collaborator on cell-surface interactions and close advisor of several of his graduate and undergraduate students, will also speak. Each speaker was a key coworker at pivotal points in Jeff ’s own scientific development. 

Jeff will continue to work on collaborative projects at Princeton, including an active grant on perovskite solar cells with colleagues in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He also plans to travel often to visit his sons in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. In addition, Jeff intends to pursue STEM education initiatives with local high schools, extending his sphere of influence to a new generation of young chemists. 

Written by members of the Department of Chemistry faculty.