Dr. Yulan C. Tong, who retired from The Dow Chemical Company, received her MS in 1958 and her PhD in 1961 at the University of Illinois under the direction of Nelson Leonard. Dr. Tong participated in workshops for junior high students interested in math and science, and has acted as a docent for Mt. Diablo State Park.
Dr. Tong provided a seed donation, matched by Dow AgroSciences, to launch the first Sylvia Stoesser Lecture in 2000. She endowed the lecture series in 2015, thereby ensuring its continuation in perpetuity. In the words of Dr. Tong, “I never met Dr. Stoesser. By the time I started at Dow in 1962, she was no longer active. I named the lecture series after her because I felt her story was a good example. She was forced to resign when she had her first baby, but she was good and Dow had to have her back as a consultant. Most likely, she made things easier for those of us who followed her. A lot have changed, but a lot need to be changed still.”
We are grateful for Dr. Tong's generous support of the Stoesser lecture series.