One afternoon, Heinz and Gerrit swam to a large rock in the channel and discussed research while enjoying the warm sunshine. Heinz was starting to study hydron-transfer reactions. He needed to measure the kinetics of alkoxide-promoted hydron exchange over a 30- to 40-°C range to calculate the Arrhenius parameters associated with these reactions. This required extensive mass spectral analysis, but cost of the analyses at Cornell was prohibitive. Gerrit suggested it would be less expensive to send two students to work in his laboratory, since there was no charge for the analysis in Leiden. We could get the data, and it would be an exceptional experience for American students to spend ten weeks working in another country. Since Dutch students are fluent in English, there would be no language barrier. The Leiden students would benefit from having two Americans in the laboratory. Gerrit felt it would demonstrate that not all Americans were cowboys or gangsters.

Karen Root and Nancy Touchette received air fare from the Ithaca College provost and summer salary from a Petroleum Research Fund grant. The results from the very productive summer of 1976 were published (1). The mass spectral samples were too much of a load on the Leiden facilities, so future work started with measuring carbon isotope effects associated with alkoxide-promoted dehydrohalogenations. Gerrit directs the radiochemical facilities in Leiden, and this would be an excellent opportunity for students to learn how to use and handle radioactive materials.

In 1979, William Tumas spent part of the spring semester and the following summer developing the techniques necessary for using ¹⁴C. Carbon isotope effect measurements continued through the summer of 1985, when it became obvious that these studies were too time consuming for short ten-week periods. In 1985, Colleen Partigianoni worked an additional four weeks (missing her European travels and the first week of Ithaca College classes) to complete her project. Some preliminary work on the carbon isotope effects was published (2), but the full paper still requires work. The emphasis changed to measuring tritium isotope effects associated with exchange and dehydrohalogenation reactions.

Between 1976 and 1984, eleven Ithaca College students worked in Leiden, but there were no Leiden students coming to Ithaca. Clarisse Habraken, a longtime champion of undergraduate research at Leiden University, started an informal exchange program with Harold Heine at Bucknell University in 1971. In 1985, she obtained funds to support American students in Leiden. This initiated a summer research exchange program between Leiden University and four American undergraduate institutions: Bucknell University, Grinnell College, Ithaca College, and Trinity University. Support for Leiden students came from the American mentors or their institutions. Dr. Habraken received a special award from the Council on Undergraduate Research in the United States in 1990. Later, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands named her an Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau.

Since 1985, 20 Leiden undergraduates and 18 Ithaca students have participated in the exchange program. A manuscript submitted to the J. Am. Chem. Soc. by Heinz and Gerrit has 14 undergraduate coauthors, ten of whom participated in the Ithaca and Leiden summer research exchange program. The Ithaca/Leiden collaboration differs from most programs. It emphasizes the research of an undergraduate school professor and uses facilities not available at the home institution. Careful planning is required to obtain meaningful results in a ten-week period; however, the 20 years of Heinz and Gerrit's collaboration have been beneficial for undergraduate research and education.

Students from Kyushu University, Japan, have also participated in Ithaca's summer research program. Shinjiro Kobayashi met Gerrit through similar research interests, and learned of the Ithaca/Leiden program. As part of the international physical organic conference coterie, Shinji and Heinz often discussed the possibility of a Kyushu student coming to Ithaca. In 1990, Izumi Akasaka was the first of three Kyushu students to spend ten weeks in Ithaca. At several Kyushu International symposia on physical organic chemistry, Heinz and Masaaki Mishima discussed common research interests that lead to a collaboration. Justin Biffinger was the first Ithaca college student to do summer research at the Institute for Fundamental Organic Chemistry at Kyushu University in 1997. Justin's senior honors research started work on the project "Comparison of Gas Phase and Kinetic Acidities in Methanolic Sodium Methoxide" and he presented it at the ACS National Undergraduate Poster Session, April 1997, in San Francisco.

>Andrew Koch spent the summers of 1983 and 1984 on the ¹⁴C project in Leiden while a student at Ithaca College. In 1991, he joined the chemistry department at Williams College, and started a similar program for their chemistry majors. There were no funds in 1995 to support Leiden students in Ithaca, and Andy took the Ithaca College part of the exchange program for the summers of 1995 and 1996. He and Hodge Markgraf worked with the Leiden students and two Williams undergraduates went to Leiden each summer.

Finding adequate housing can be a problem. In the early years, Gerrit found housing and a bicycle for Ithaca students working in Leiden. The office of international exchange at the Gorlaeus Laboratories now handle this. Williams offers free rooms in one or two dormitories for its very active summer research program in all fields, and this is an excellent living arrangement. The Leiden students made American friends in the dormitory and laboratory. Ithaca College no longer provides free housing for the summer research students, and finding housing can be a problem.

When the first Leiden students came to Ithaca, the dean of students didn't know how to handle a summer research participation program. Harold Heine sent copies of their forms, and it was a simple matter to substitute the Leiden student's name and Ithaca College for Bucknell. It is much easier now with Amy Teel as Director of International Programs at Ithaca College. She knows the latest legislation regarding exchange students. An important document is the IAP-66 form, which the foreign student needs to obtain a visa. Last summer Leiden students did not receive their IAP-66 until two days before they were to leave for Williams. It is strongly recommended that the forms be sent by one of the overnight couriers.

The summer research exchange program has been an excellent way for our chemistry majors to "study" abroad. The ten weeks of working closely with a group in Leiden without the pressure of exams is worth more than taking a semester abroad. It has been even more enriching with the Leiden students coming to Ithaca. It is a pleasure for Heinz to visit former exchange students when he is in The Netherlands or Japan. One moment stands out and tells you that this program is working. The second student from Kyushu University, Ken-ichi Yatsugi, had excellent skills in written English and chemistry, but his spoken English was a problem. However, by sharing a room with Frank Steemers, a Leiden undergraduate, he learned rapidly. Progress was evident when he began to laugh at small jokes, and by the third week he began making jokes. Now that he was a "master of communicating" we would tease him about speaking "American" with a Dutch/British accent! Heinz received a thank-you letter from Ken-ichi after he had returned to Japan: "On my way back to Fukuoka, I talked with two Americans. I had never thought [I would do] that before I came to Ithaca." This is what international exchange programs are all about!

Literature Cited

1. Koch, H. F.; Dahlberg, D. B.; Lodder, G.; Root, K. S.; Touchette, N. A.; Solsky, R. L.; Zuck, R. M.; Wagner, L. J.; Koch, N. H.; Kuzemko, M. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1983, 105, 2394.

2. Koch, H. F.; Koch, J. G.; Tumas, W.; McLennan, D. J.; Dobson, B.; Lodder, G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1980, 102, 7955.