The Gift of a Legacy

In Memoriam of Dr. Viswanathan, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry

The late Dr. Narayanasamy Viswanathan, professor emeritus of Chemistry at Penn State Fayette, was known tenderly to the campus community as “Dr. Nathan.”

“As an eight-year-old boy in India, he noticed that the spice turmeric changed color on his hand when exposed to sunlight. This chemical change intrigued him, and he became fascinated with chemistry,” writes Ute Viswanathan, Dr. Nathan’s wife, in a legacy statement.

Dr. Nathan graduated from college with the highest honors in India, and he was sent to the nuclear training school in Trombay, Bombay, India for further training. As a visiting lecturer there, he was invited to advance his research in the United States. In 1968, he received a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he majored in Nuclear Chemistry before switching to Inorganic Chemistry.

Later that year, Dr. Nathan accepted an appointment at Penn State Fayette as assistant professor of Chemistry, where he would remain for forty years. He earned the rank of full professor, the only such appointment across the Commonwealth campuses at the time. He retired in 2007 after developing the forensic science program, and he received the Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2008, a University-wide honor to recognize outstanding mentors.

Beloved by the campus community, Dr. Nathan developed summer science and chemistry camps for middle-school students, many of whom would become his undergraduate students. He founded the Science-Mathematics Resource Center in the 1990s, which provided pedagogical workshops for local school districts. He also served as a Boy Scouts of America counselor for young men interested in nuclear chemistry and environmental science.

In his own research, Dr. Nathan studied metallic bonding, liquid crystals, flue gas cleanup and water pollution control.

Dr. Nathan passed away on April 25, 2014. A public memorial service was held at Penn State Fayette. In 2017, Mrs. Viswanathan and their daughter, Dr. Akila Viswanathan, pledged an endowment of $50,000 to the campus (pictured below).

The Dr. Nathan Viswanathan Memorial Scholarship at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus received a one-time matching contribution from Penn State University for a total of $100,000. Full-time undergraduate students who are majoring in or planning to major in a science-related degree program, who contribute to the diversity of the student body and who have demonstrated financial need are eligible. Each scholarship will be awarded for one academic year and may be renewed.

“When I was a junior faculty member, Dr. Nathan gave me important advice,” said Dr. Jo Ann Jankoski, associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies. “He told me to follow my passion, to be myself and to never let anyone put out my fire.”•