04/24/98

Chemistry and Cocktails

Have you ever savored a Puerto Rican rum and wondered why it tastes so mellow? "Taste improvements are not accidental," my friend Maria told me. "Natural byproducts from the fermentation of sugarcane molasses give rum its flavor." Chemists who work in rum pilot plants like Maria did, use the technique of gas chromatography to identify these byproducts, control their relative concentrations to vary the rum's flavor, and age the rums under different conditions of pressure and humidity. Educated palates perform the final taste tests before consumers enjoy the results.

Maria has always been the adventuresome one in her family. Born, raised and educated in Puerto Rico until age 24, Maria dreamed about pursuing her research interests in the United States. Winning a government scholarship finally afforded her the opportunity for graduate study in analytical chemistry at Purdue University, in Lafayette, Indiana.

She arrived at Purdue with a few belongings and one person's name, that of a Cuban woman enrolled in the same master's program. "It's one thing to get in; it's another to survive," she remembers. American slang completely baffled her. Many of her classmates, from countries all over the world, spoke even less English than she did, so she and her Cuban acquaintance studied together and gradually broadened their English vocabularies as well as their circle of friends.

Maria's masters research into the mass spectrometry patterns of barbiturates made important contributions to the identification and treatment of drug overdoses. An article based on her findings appeared in the Journal of Analytical Chemistry. After graduation Maria returned to Puerto Rico , and to the rum pilot plant, to satisfy the two year government service requirement of her scholarship before returning to the U.S. to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry.

She took a management position with a large pharmaceutical firm in Upstate New York. Unfortunately, in an unusually severe winter, she became ill with pneumonia. Her illness interfered with her ability to perform her job effectively, and she decided to resign. It took her some time to fully recover. During her recuperation, she accepted work helping other displaced workers.

She discovered that human chemistry intrigued her almost as much as drug and rum chemistry had. Facing lengthy unemployment in a soft chemistry job market, she took a consumer advocacy position to help Hispanic people and others resolve tenant/landlord and employer/employee disputes. Maria was appalled at the negative stereotypes she encountered about Puerto Rican and other Latin-American people, stereotypes which not only caused but also perpetuated many of the disputes she was called on to resolve. Three years passed before she returned to work in pharmaceuticals and toxicology.

Quite unexpectedly, Maria was attracted to another kind of chemistry, the chemistry of love. Marriage and plans to start a family followed. Her husband's career change brought the newlyweds to Connecticut and Maria back into the job market. After a long search she opted, professionally, for the fulfillment of helping others help themselves through programs at the YWCA. She teaches unemployed foreign women, many of them Puerto Rican, some of what life's challenges have taught her. "If I can dream it, I can do it," she insists. "And so can my students."

Maria hopes that people who read about her life and experiences will question stereotypes about Puerto Rican people, stereotypes which persist because of language and cultural barriers. "We are all unique individuals, just like everyone else. I am essentially a shy person," Maria said. "But I agreed to this interview because I wanted to help change the negative ideas other people have about Puerto Rican people. If telling my story will help, I'll do it."

The laws of human chemistry teach us to mix flavors from countries around the world and we'll have the best blend yet, a smooth all-American cocktail.

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