ABINGTON, Pa. — Ingeborg I. Schuster, a retired professor of organic chemistry at Penn State Abington, died on June 28, following a brief illness. 

Schuster came to the United States at the age of 10 and attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1960, and she continued her studies at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a doctorate in organic chemistry in 1967.

After spending a year as a post-doctoral scholar at Bryn Mawr College, she joined the chemistry faculty at Abington, then known as Penn State Ogontz. For nearly 40 years, she taught organic chemistry to aspiring undergraduates and investigated the molecular structure of various systems through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The technique allows a researcher to determine the specific components of a sample.

Schuster collaborated with pioneering chemists John D. Roberts at the California Institute of Technology and Kurt Mislow and Robert Pascal Jr. at Princeton University. She authored 18 refereed articles and retired from Abington in 2006.   

Schuster was a 60-year member of the American Chemical Society. In her spare time, she was a member of the violin section of the Olney Symphony Orchestra, and she recently performed with the Old York Road Symphony.

About Penn State Abington

Penn State Abington provides an affordable, accessible and high-impact education resulting in the success of a diverse student body. It is committed to student success through innovative approaches to 21st-century public higher education within a world-class research university. With more than 3,100 students, Penn State Abington is a residential campus that offers baccalaureate degrees in 25 majors, accelerated master's degrees, undergraduate research, the Schreyer Honors College, NCAA Division III athletics and more.