Alan A. Jones

Who was Alan A. Jones?

Alan Anthony Jones was an American professor of chemistry at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. During his more than thirty years at Clark he served as a mentor and advisor to hundreds of undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students. He was a leading researcher in the field of NMR and polymer physics. His research focused on solid state NMR spectroscopy of polymer systems. This work was supported for many years through grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Petroleum Research Fund and the Army Research Office.

He attended Colgate University and received his B.A. in 1966. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1972 and worked at Clark after working as a postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College under Walter H. Stockmayer from 1972-74. At Clark, Jones and fellow professor Paul Inglefield built a NMR facility at the university and wrote over 100 research papers. Some of Jones' ideas led to new ideas for the use of NMR in studying polymer systems, such as his highly cited 1977 paper: Models for spin relaxation in dilute solutions of randomly coiled polymers.

As a professor at Clark Dr. Jones was noted as one of the best professors and he received the institution’s Outstanding Teacher Award in 1988. He attracted many undergraduates to do research in his laboratory, many of whom went into graduate school after graduating from Clark. During his tenure he directed more than twenty Ph.D. candidates to the successful completion of their theses. He also served Clark at the highest levels in the administration, being Acting Provost 1987–88 and Dean of Graduate Studies and Research 1993–95.