John Grutzner

2013 Co-op Hall of Fame Inductee

Education

John Grutzner was raised in Melbourne, Australia. He became interested in chemistry while he was in high school. His teacher, Mr. Brumley, said, “Take science - you can learn humanities later.” Grutzner went on to study chemistry at the University of Melbourne and received his bachelor’s degree in 1962. He continued his studies at Melbourne, and he completed his Ph.D. in 1967.

Professional Career

Once he had completed his schooling in Melbourne, Australia, Grutzner held post-doctoral appointments at UCLA and Cal Tech. A couple years later in 1969, he was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at Purdue University. He was then promoted to associate professor in 1974. In 1981, he served as a program officer in chemical dynamics at the National Science Foundation. Three years later, Grutzner served as chairman of the Purdue section of the American Chemical Society. He was also the recipient of the Martin Award for Outstanding Chemistry Teaching in 1988; the same year he became full professor. Grutzner has spent much of his career researching physical organic chemistry and
nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. One of his accomplishments was identifying a new relaxation pathway for high Z nuclei.

Co-op Coordinator

Grutzner became Co-op coordinator for the Chemistry Department in 1984, and he continued to assist these students for 28 years until his retirement in 2012.