BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – At first glance, the poster-sized picture in Dan Hefner’s office in the law firm of Leydig, Voit & Mayer in downtown Chicago appears to be abstract art – a thin circle lined with a rainbow of colors and surrounded by hues of purple and blue. The picture, in fact, is anything but abstract. It is concrete proof of Hefner’s passion for science that has carried into his work today.
“It’s a photograph of a fertilized sea urchin egg that I took through a microscope my last day in the lab where I conducted undergraduate research,” said Hefner, a 1990 Illinois Wesleyan graduate who majored in biology. “Do you see the small lines in the cell? In about 10 minutes, it will begin to divide. This is truly its last minutes as a fertilized egg before it begins to become something completely different.”
Hefner understands the need to evolve. He came to Illinois Wesleyan with plans to attend medical school and major in chemistry or biology. By his junior year, however, Hefner noted changes in the medical field with the growth of managed care. “It seemed as though doctors were doing more paperwork and spending less time with patients,” he said. “I didn’t know where this trend would lead, and I didn’t want to get into a profession undergoing such unpredictable transformation. Besides, I didn’t think I would really be happy seeing patients.” Hefner made the transition from Illinois Wesleyan science major to lawyer.
It was much the same for Christopher Raistrick, a 1993 chemistry graduate from Illinois Wesleyan. “My goal was to go into astrochemistry,” said Raistrick from his LaSalle Street office at Adler, Murphy and McQuillen, only blocks away from Hefner’s law office. “I was always interested in space and science. Science articles are always the first ones I read online during my lunch breaks,” he said, nodding toward the computer on his desk.
Raistrick loved his chemistry classes at Illinois Wesleyan, with a special interest in Professor of Chemistry Forrest Frank’s research, in which Raistrick participated his senior year. “The fingerprint technology was really intriguing,” he said. Yet nearing the end of his Illinois Wesleyan days, Raistrick began to question his path. “I still loved forensic chemistry, but I just could not see myself working in a lab eight hours a day.”