Alumni and Friends Stories

Like any successful chemical reaction, great teaching requires the right elements. For Amiee (Larchar) Modic ’84 (BS Chemistry), recipient of the 2025 James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching, those elements include authenticity, enthusiasm, and a spark of inspiration. Growing up in a small town in upstate New York, Modic was drawn to Michigan Tech for the University’s STEM-focused curriculum and close-knit community. Initially pursuing chemical engineering, Modic switched to chemistry where her passion for hands-on learning flourished. "I really enjoyed all of my lab experiences at Tech, and I know they prepared me very well," Modic said, adding that one lab experience is still quite vivid—an explosion involving a graduate student in an organic chemistry research lab.