He taught at that institution and at UCLA before joining the faculty at Harvard University, where he presently is the Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Chemistry. Among his numerous distinctions are awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the American Chemical Society. Evans has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It's a tremendous amount of work and a very challenging experience. There's so much that students have to learn if they're going to generate productive work.
Research takes effort thatsometimes seems repetitious.
But through it the students gain confidence. They get a feeling for how research is done. Once you've done it yourself, you know what it takes to get creditable results. You understand what it means to develop or discard new ideas. There are all these things to be learned, and they lead to a deep enthusiasm for the life of the mind.