chemistry

Paula J. Olsiewski

Paula J. Olsiewski is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Paula J. Olsiewski rather than just read about it. In short: Paula J. Olsiewski is an American biochemist who is a Contributing Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Key takeaways

Paula J. Olsiewski belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Paula J. Olsiewski to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paula J. Olsiewski from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paula J. Olsiewski is an American biochemist who is a Contributing Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She was a Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, where she created and directed the Foundation's programs in the Microbiology of the Built Environment, the Chemistry of Indoor Environments and Civic Initiatives. She directed the Biosecurity program until its conclusion in 2011 and the Synthetic Biology program until its conclusion in 2014.

Education Olsiewski earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry, cum laude, from Yale College, and a Doctor of Philosophy in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1979) with a thesis on D-amino acid dehydrogenase evolution, supervised by Christopher T. Walsh. From 1980 to 1982 she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of William H. Beers at New York University.

Biotech and biomedical commercial development Olsiewski directed commercial development for in vitro diagnostic products at Enzo Biochem, (NYSE:ENZ), a biotechnology company focused on the manipulation and modification of nucleic acids to produce therapeutic and diagnostic products. She directed the New York City Biotechnology Initiative, a state funded program to improve the region's ability to grow biotechnology companies by fostering relationships between industry and academia. She also established and directed the Technology Development Office at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Board and advisory committee roles Olsiewski is chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors Homeland Security Research Subcommittee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and on the board of directors at the Critical Path Institute. In 2001 she served on the Board of Advisors for the WMD Center's Bio-Response Report Card. From 2003 to 2009 she was a member of the MIT Corporation. She was the first alumna to serve as President of the MIT Alumni Association (2003-2004), and served on the advisory board of the MIT Initiative on Faculty Race and Diversity (2008-2009). She was a member of the Committee on Advances in Technology and the Prevention of Their Application to Next Generation Biowarfare Threats, which produced the National Research Counsel Report “Globalization, Biosecurity, and the Future of Life Sciences” (2006). From 2005 to 2012 she served on the advisory board for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

Selected writings & publications Haynie, Sharon L.; Hinkle, Amber S.; Jones, Nancy L.; Martin, Cheryl A.; Olsiewski, Paula J.; Roberts, Mary F. (2011). “Reflections on the Journey: Six Short Stories.” Chemistry Central Journal, 5 (69): 1–12. doi: 10.1186/1752-153X-5-69 Her most cited papers, according to Google Scholar:

Olsiewski, Paula J.; Kaczorowski, Gregory J.; Walsh, Christopher; Kaback, H. Ronald (1981). "Reconstitution of Escherichia coli membrane vesicles with D-amino acid dehydrogenase". Biochemistry. 20 (21): 6272–6279. doi:10.1021/bi00524a056. PMID 6118175. Olsiewski, Paula J.; Kaczorowski, G. J.; Walsh, C. (1980). "Purification and properties of D-amino acid dehydrogenase, an inducible membrane-bound iron-sulfur flavoenzyme from Escherichia coli B." Journal of Biological Chemistry. 255 (10): 4487–4494. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(19)85517-5. PMID 6102989. Olsiewski, Paula J.; Beers, William H. (1983). "cAMP synthesis in the rat oocyte". Developmental Biology. 100 (2): 287–293. doi:10.1016/0012-1606(83)90223-3. PMID 6317488. Morse, Stephen S.; Garwin, Richard L.; Olsiewski, Paula J. (2006). "Next flu pandemic: What to do until the vaccine arrives?". Science. 314 (5801): 929. doi:10.1126/science.1135823. PMID 17095681. S2CID 20519907.

Awards and honors In 1995, Olsiewski won the MIT Henry B. Kane '24 Award, which is given in recognition of exception service and accomplishments in the area of fundraising. In 2000, she received the MIT Bronze Beaver Alumni Award, which is given in recognition of distinguished service - it is the highest honor the Alumni Association bestows upon any of its members. Also in 2000, she received the Yale Class Distinguished Service Award, which is selected by the class leadership and bestowed to recognize and thank classmates who have dedicated time, energy and enthusiasm to the Class. In 2018, Olsiewski was elected as a AAAS Fellow in the Chemical Sciences division. In 2022, the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate inducted Olsiewski as a new Academy Fellow and awarded her their Special Award ″in recognition of her advocacy and support of basic research for the microbiology and chemistry of the indoor environment.″

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paula J. Olsiewski

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paula J. Olsiewski claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paula J. Olsiewski before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paula J. Olsiewski ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paula J. Olsiewski

In research: Paula J. Olsiewski appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paula J. Olsiewski in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paula J. Olsiewski is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American women, American scientists, American women biochemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paula J. Olsiewski outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Paula J. Olsiewski in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paula J. Olsiewski means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Paula J. Olsiewski out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paula J. Olsiewski in simple terms?

Paula J. Olsiewski is an American biochemist who is a Contributing Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Why does Paula J. Olsiewski matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paula J. Olsiewski?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paula J. Olsiewski.