Career
He is currently Richard B. Fisher Chair in Natural Sciences at Bard College at Simon"s Rock. In 1997, he was dean of the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville when war broke out in the Republic of Congo. Bard President Leon Botstein, who has aided a number of refugee professors, offered him a job teaching chemistry at the American college.
As a chemist, his specialty is stereochemistry and asymmetric synthesis, as well as environmental toxicology.
He is the author of a number of award-winning novels including Johnny Mad Dog (French: Johnny Chien Méchant) and Little Boys Come from the Stars. His work is featured in the Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry, and he has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.