Meet Elita Pastra-Landis
Professor Elita Pastra-Landis' love for chemistry came with her to Wheaton when she first arrived on campus in the 1960s. After graduating from Wheaton in 1969, she went on to earn her Ph.D. from Harvard University, with Nobel Prize winner William N. Lipscomb, before returning to Norton to teach in the department of her mentor and friend, Professor of Chemistry Bojan Jennings. Pastra-Landis has devoted many years to the study of proteins and particularly, the relationship between their structure and their function. Her work has earned her a number of academic distinctions, including a Fulbright Foundation Travel Grant and a Danforth Foundation Fellowship. She has published articles in the biochemical literature and has presented research work carried out with Wheaton undergraduates at scientific meetings annually. One of her greatest honors was serving for five years at Wheaton as the College's Bojan H. Jennings Professor of Natural Sciences. In a conversation with interviewer Nancy Bianchi Norton '78, she talks about how she arrived in Norton and what has kept her here for more than 30 years.
Wheaton has been a big part of your life for a long time. What drew you here in the first place?
Wheaton was recommended to me by teachers at the high school I attended. I went to a private school in Athens, Greece even though I came from a blue-collar family. I had always been a strong student and was able to attend on a full scholarship. We had visiting American teachers for the English language classes, and they recommended that I come to the U.S. to study, knowing that while the Greek university system was free, it was actually rather expensive to prepare for and get into. They knew it would be a financial hardship for me, and at the time it was possible for strong foreign students to come to the U.S. on scholarships. Wheaton was on the list of about ten schools that were suggested to me and I applied. Wheaton accepted me early decision and I withdrew my applications everywhere else, accepted this one and arrived in August of '65. And it was probably the best choice I could have made because of the personal attention that I received here from people like Herb Ellison, Myrna Pearson and Bojan Jennings, who was my mentor.
Was the personal attention something you were looking for?
Well, it was something that wasn't widely available then, and I think it still isn't today. And personal attention is what I understand to be the best part of higher education, and what I've tried to provide: to be intellectually demanding while supporting students as much as possible, until they find out for themselves how to enjoy learning.
So it's really quite by chance that you landed here in Norton, Mass. Why have you stayed? Is there something special that has kept you connected to Wheaton for so many years?
Two things. Yes, there is something special about Wheaton. I think the community spirit, the closeness, the expectation of interaction with faculty is stronger here than in any other liberal arts school I have seen. For my daughter's college search we visited 20 liberal arts colleges up and down the East coast. All small colleges claim to have close community - but there are wide differences. I have probably also stayed for personal reasons because of my background. I was a child of an uneven past. I came from a Greek family who left Greece after an earthquake to go to Australia. We were immigrants in Melbourne, and later returned to Greece. So my childhood was never spent in one safe place for more than two or three years. When I finally landed in Norton I was going to take no more risks. There had been so much uncertainty during my upbringing that stability became an important need for me, and I really love this community. Of course, I also was married to Jim Landis, who taught in the Physics department for many years. Students know us as the PL couple.
In your research you are known for your passion for proteins. Why do they intrigue you so?
Some proteins are building blocks, like construction materials that make up living systems, and others are tiny factories that make the chemistry work - these we call enzymes. So what proteins are, actually, are very clever chemists. The reason I'm so fond of them is that they do what I might do in the lab, but they do it so much better than I can - they're so much cleverer as chemists than people can be.
Was there something in particular that sparked your interest in them?
In the beginning of graduate school I checked out research in organic or inorganic chemistry, but I wasnt sure what field was for me. So that first year (1969) I just took courses. And back then, the 3-D structure had been solved for only three or four protein systems. Right as we were taking the course, another two were solved. One whole term we spent learning about the exact structure of those six proteins. And the connection between the architecture of the molecule and how well it functions, how the two go together, just blew me away intellectually. It still does! I haven't lost that sense of wonder when I figure out something new in the lab, or learn about what others are finding out.
You are doing some interesting work in France and plan to spend this summer there. Can you tell us about what you're working on there?
For the longest time I have studied proteins in the field called kinetics - how fast they work - to see how their speed is related to the overall design and the inside parts. I still do this, and am doing kinetics in France with proteins from archaebacteria that come from strange places. It's a very new field - up until fifteen years ago nobody really thought to look in places like very hot or salty spring waters to see if there was any life there. Volcanic waters or deep sea springs are a very unlikely place, yet there are little living critters there, called "extremophiles". The proteins from these microbes are particularly interesting because they are so sturdy, functioning as they do under extreme conditions of temperature, salt or pressure.
I was on sabbatical in France last year and will return this summer to finish so we can publish the results. One of the proteins I am working with is called Aspartate transcarbamylase. It's a useful one to study because it has many parts, so you can study not only its kinetics but its stability to heat and pressure. In Paris, I can use an instrument that creates very high pressures to study folding and assembly.
What made you decide to focus your career on teaching?
I liked it from the beginning. I think the idea originally came from Wheaton, because I had done some tutoring in physics and really liked the one-on-one. I was lucky enough to win a Danforth Fellowship, which were then tailored specifically for people with an interest in teaching. So the fact that I won it plugged me in to a community of people who considered academic teaching important, and I found that this was where I was good and what I enjoyed best.
Teaching on most levels involves all of a person's being. There's so much of a person that goes into leading that class. How do you stay fresh?
When it's been a good class I will really walk to wherever it is I'm going next as though I am standing one foot off the ground - there's no question about that, teaching gives an all time high! But it takes interaction. I'm not any good at just talking to a class of faces. I really need feedback. So although I can teach the larger classes, and I get to know every student in them, I prefer the smaller sections and teaching in the lab, where learning becomes a two-way street.
So it sounds like you enjoy seeing the light come on in students' heads when they figure out a concept.
That's exactly right, but it's not just seeing the light come on, it's how the light comes on. It's seeing the light for those who never thought science could be interesting or never thought they could do it and who suddenly make connections. And, of course, I also love doing research with students at the upper division; the relationship there really becomes one of true give and take, of colleagues and friends. Pretty much all my research is shared with students, most often seniors who become involved in independent work for a thesis.
Have you taught all the courses the department offers?
All but one. Isn't that amazing? I have not yet taught analytical chemistry. I could, it's just that the department has never needed me to. You know, flexibility like that is key for teaching at a small college, and it keeps me aware of broad developments in my field.
Do you have a favorite course to teach?
Organic (chemistry). It holds together all the material you teach from the beginning to the end and makes a continuous story. In General Chemistry we might just be talking about the rate of reactions or about the energy of reactions but Organic pulls it all together.
Can you talk about Bojan Jennings? She has been a significant part of your life since you were an undergraduate. You were also named the College's Bojan H. Jennings Professor of Natural Sciences in the mid-1990s.
I don't know what to tell you. She's a person of infinite energy! My favorite description of Bojan is one my daughter made when she was small. Bojan was a second grandmother to Tanya, and Tanya called her "the girl with the white hair." That's absolutely who Bojan was and who she still is to this day. She just turned 80 years old and she just never runs out of energy and enthusiasm and ideas.
Was being named to the post that bears her name a special honor for you?
Absolutely. Bojan was my mentor as a student and we have had a strong relationship for many, many years. To be named the chair was a privilege for me.
Do you have a particular goal for yourself at this point in your career?
That's a hard question. I would have to say that I am looking forward to what is happening here, within Wheaton's Chemistry department. The next ten years promise to be a very exciting time of change and development. Within the next decade the department will have a total change of face. We will have three new hires because of three faculty members retiring. And I, who was once the young one, will be the senior member of the department. That's something I never considered when I was just starting out. And then there are the students. I'm not sure that when I began in this field I anticipated what kind of role we would have in preparing students for the 21st century. That's a big challenge.
On a more personal level, let me ask you about how you've juggled family life with your career over the years. You married, pursued your career and became a mother at a time when balancing work and family was considered very progressive. Looking back, what are your feelings about that time in your life?
It was hard. I graduated from school at a time when the women's liberation movement was launched. We believed that we should be Superwomen and do everything. And still, if I had to do it again I would not change a thing about my career, except perhaps to take more than three days off when my daughter was born! I was fortunate in that my field allowed me the flexibility to bring Tanya to work at times. That helped. In fact, since my daughter is an only child I think that being in a setting like Wheaton helped her to develop into a very open and social person.
Another non-science question. You have a reputation around campus as quite the runner. Can you tell us about it?
I started to run when I was pregnant - I come from a family of large women and I wanted to make sure I didn't become any heavier. As is turned out, I really liked running for many other reasons. Running longer distances gives me a steady focus and calms me - good thing for a high strung scientist.
Have you run any marathons?
Nice that you asked, I've completed five marathons. My times aren't in the elite category, but I ran Lowell in 4:15. I ran one in London in 4:35 and also one in Albany in 4:25. My best race was in '98 in Athens, covering the original course starting from the village of Marathon. I ran it in 4:10, and my 88 year old mother was cheering at the three-hour mark. This past April I completed the Paris marathon, but I was slower.
Do you have other interests?
As a matter of fact, not many people know it, but I'm also a fairly recent scuba diver. I love to dive and I love watching fish. Growing up in Greece I was a great snorkler. Then I shared snorkeling, watching and learning about fish with my husband. Our daughter was snorkeling before she could even swim. Now with scuba gear, I love going under and watching the sea-life close up. I love fish of all kinds. Sometimes I wonder if I would have concentrated my professional work on marine chemistry or biology in some way, if I had realized 20 years ago that I liked it so much.