I worked for Professor Ayusman Sen, trying to selectively oxidize methane to methanol, or any other product that was not carbon dioxide. A tough problem, but we did have some good results capturing it in hot sulfuric acid. We isolated methyl sulfate and methyl sulfonate. When I left, we were still determining if there was significant over-oxidation to carbon dioxide while these two products were forming. Overall, a good, productive two years.

Supply PLatoon Leader, 1st Combat Equipment Company (1st CEC), Combat Equipment Group Europe, Mannheim, WestGermany. The CECs housed 6 divisions of equipment for troops who would be flown in from the States in the event of a war with Soviet /Warsaw Pact forces.