Vicki Hopper Wysocki

Meet Vicki Hopper Wysocki

Heroes? John Fenn was a great colleague and mentor when I was at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was a talented scientist who went on to win the Nobel Prize, but he was also one of the most humble scientists I have ever met. He attended our joint analytical chemistry group meetings at VCU and he would say, “I'm just another student.” Because both of us had grown up in Kentucky, he would also sometimes say to me, “I'm just a simple Kentucky boy.” He was a great role model for our graduate students, always asking questions when he didn’t understand something – he never worried that he might not look “smart,” if he asked a basic question. 

In another life… If I wasn't an analytical scientist and professor doing research and teaching, I suspect I would be a teacher of young children. My mother, who passed away recently, would have also been a teacher if she’d had the opportunity. She was amazing with children and a great role model for treating others with respect. She read to us (four children), always helped us look things up in the dictionary and encyclopedia (before the Internet existed), and took us to the library frequently where we’d bring back books in brown paper grocery bags.