James L. Copeland

Born in Champaign, Ill., Copeland earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1952 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he was also commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Ordnance Corps. He began graduate studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, before being called to active duty in 1953.

In 1956, Copeland was assigned to teach in the ROTC program at Eastern Michigan University. At the end of his enlistment, he returned to graduate studies at Indiana University and completed a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1961.

After a postdoctoral appointment at what is now Ames Laboratory in Iowa, he accepted a position as an assistant professor of chemistry at Kansas State in 1962. He was promoted to associate professor in 1968 and to professor in 1974. He served as associate department head from 1981 until his retirement in 1996.

Copeland’s research focused on transport, conductance, and pyrolysis kinetics of molten salt systems.

An exceptional instructor, he received the Erwin Segebrecht Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from Kansas State in 1992. Copeland was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1953.

He loved classical music and was skilled at digital photographic restoration. He was an active member of Peace Lutheran Church in Manhattan.