Industrial Fellowships

Note: These fellowships no longer exist.

From the mid '20s industrial research fellowships have accounted for some very important research at Rutgers, for example such developments as nicotine tannate and fixed nicotine, ryannia, and repellents for biting insects, and fundamental investigations like those of R. C. Burdette in the early '30s on the relationship of particle size to pyrethrum toxicity.

The work done under the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Fellowship, which has been in continuous operation for eighteen years, well illustrates the type of accomplishments these fellowships make possible. This fellowship was organized with Philip Granett in charge for the purpose of developing an economic mosquito repellent which would be effective but at the same time harmless and not objectionable to humans. The first repellent, developed in 1937, was "Stay-Way Lotion," a product at least twice as effective as oil of citronella and much more pleasant to use. Another was Insect Repellent 6-12 (2-ethyl hexanediol-1,3) which was seven times as effective as citronella and definitely superior to it in other respects. In 1942 Insect Repellent 6-12 was one of the three chemicals approved for use of the armed forces in the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases. (It is interesting to note that one of the other chemicals, dimethyl phthalate, had been discovered by another Rutgers Fellowship sponsored by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in the late '30s. The remaining compound, indalone, was originally tested by the fellowship in 1937).

In 1939 the scope of the fellowship was broadened to include work on an all-purpose garden insecticide. Henry Menusan, who attacked the problem from the viewpoint of finding new chemical insecticides, predicted the insecticidal activity of a chemical similar in structure to DDT. By means of testing techniques involving injection of measured doses of chemicals into the insect blood stream, several groups of chemicals were found to have potential value. Charles S. L. Smith continued work on development of a garden insecticide in 1943, but a wartime lack of materials hindered product development.

Under this fellowship several hundred compounds have been evaluated annually against a variety of test insects. Considerable progress has been made in developing marketable formulations of fly repellents, a tick repellent, allethrin and its analogue, and synergists for these pyrethrum-like organic compounds. In connection with studies of fly repellents, Eleanor Starnes developed a test method for repellents on biting flies and started fundamental studies on biting-fly behavior.

The Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Fellowship has sponsored the training and research of more than a dozen graduate students and has always supported and sought new approaches to the problems involved. By its existence and operation, the university and the industry have enjoyed a mutually satisfactory relationship, beneficial to each. And it is typical of relationships with other industries who through their sponsorship of fellowships have contributed to the training of students in a very practical way. It is not possible within the confines of this brief report to describe individually the work made possible by many other such fellowships and grants-in-aid, but the following listing of the participating agencies indicates the importance of the contribution which industrial scholarships make to the work of the department and the university.