Faculty Profile

Chemistry Faculty Member Passes On Legacy

(From left) Lillian Odom, senior; Petia Bobadova, Ph.D., David Barbosa, senior

When it comes to chemistry, for Petia Bobadova, Ph.D., you could say it’s elemental.

The Rockhurst associate professor of chemistry has a long history with the subject, dating back nearly a century. Her grandmother was the first female chemical engineer in Bulgaria. Her mother, too, was a chemist. And before long, Bobadova, who was born in Bulgaria, said she found herself on that same path.

“I got my first chemistry set when I was 6 years old,” she said. “I think that speaks for itself.”

Unlike the previous two generations, Bobadova said she ultimately decided to teach the subject, rather than pursue a career in industry. But even that decision was in part out of gratitude for her mother, who helped her understand the subject when she just couldn’t get it to add up.

“Something about the way she explained the logic of it worked, it clicked with me,” Bobadova said. “So I’m trying to do the same thing with my students today.” That means not only connecting in the classroom, but in the lab through undergraduate research projects. Since joining Rockhurst University in 2008, Bobadova has published 11 papers, six of which include undergraduate research students as co-authors. Currently, she is leading an ongoing project with her student research assistants to design molecules using computer modeling software. The goal is to produce compounds that can be synthesized and used in applications such as medical imaging and even in medical treatments.

And she volunteers for an annual chemistry night at her daughter’s school. In the process, she might have secured another generation.

“She currently writes ‘chemist’ in the yearbook when they ask what the students want to do,” Bobadova said.

HEARD ON CAMPUS

“That spiritual current that brought me there was the wakeup — grace wakes us up. When we’re not awake, we can’t really act.”

— Sister Helen Prejean speaking at Rockhurst University in November about the moment she devoted her life to ending capital punishment.