Stroke, Stroke, Stroke, Organic Chemistry

By the time his senior year began, Ted Tsomides was tired of losing weight. He mentioned this in passing when he sat down to brunch one Sunday with a plate of reconstitued scrambled eggs and a bowl of mysterious hot cereal which assumes different names on different days of the week but always tastes the same.

Last year Tsomides had to lose 40 pounds before the prestigious San Diego Crew Classic. No, he doesn't regret his decision to stop coxing for the heavyweight crew. "And there were other things I wanted to do. "Such as filling out applications for school. "It seemed like the right thing to do. And looking back, it was."

The time was apparently spend profitably: Tsomides will be studying chemistry next year at London's Imperial College as a Marshall Scholar. But to do that, he had to turn down a grant from the National Science Foundation that would have enabled him to study in the United States. And having once won and then refused the NSF grant, he says he does not stand much of a chance of winning the money again if he decides to spend more time in school when he returns from England. But he doesn't regret his decision.

On the whole, Ted has very few regrets about the time he has spent in Cambridge. He seems plagued by the same worries which plague most people about to finish school--courses he wishes he had taken and courses he wishes he had not taken--but he says he would still cox and would still study chemistry.

Much of what he has accomplished at Harvard Tsomides attributes to interests he first acquired in high school. He said he learned to enjoy chemistry in a well-taught course at Philips Exeter. The course piqued his interest sufficiently and prepared him well enough so that he could take Chem 20 as a freshman.

Tsomides also started coxing at Exeter; in 9th grade, to be exact, when everyone had to participate in a sport. He was small at the time, and someone suggested he try out as a coxswain for the crew. "I really enjoyed it." Coxing, in fact, was one of the reasons Tsomides decided to attend Harvard. Almost everyone receives the form letter from rowing coach Harry Parker, but it usually does not arrive until after he's been admitted to the College. Tsomides, though, confesses his letter began "Dean Mr. Tsomides."

Crew, though important, always took "second place" to chemistry, which has been "an intellectual challenge" for Tsomides. He prefers organic to inorganic chemistry and has worked in the lab of William E. Doering, Mallinkrodt Professor of Chemistry, doing experiments on theoretical problems of the synthesis of organic compounds. His eyes light up when he talks about organic chemistry and the professors with whom he's worked and the influence they've had on him, in particular Doering and Elias Corey, Emery Professor of Organic Chemistry.

Tsomides says it's a shame that most people know Doering, who is also his advisor, only in the context of Chem 20, a course Tsomides says Doering hates to teach. He admits that the course's reputation as one of the College's most competitive leads most people to dread it; only by taking the class as a freshman, before word of its reputation had really sunk in, did Tsomides emerge relatively unscathed.

Tsomides has lingering doubts about his future--he's still not sure he wants to spend his life in a lab, and he "hopes" he made the "right decision" in accepting the Marshall. "The main temptation is to devote oneself to totally achieving goals. I guess I get caught up in that too."