POPULAR PROFESSOR INSPIRES; LEARNING, RESEARCH GARNER STUDENTS' ENTHUSIASM.

Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer

Professor Steven Oppenheimer, the Mr. Holland of biology at California State State University, Northridge is discussing the formation of sexual organs with his embryology class.

Waltzing across the stage, his voice booming through a lapel mike, he imitates Dr. Ruth, cracks a few Monica jokes, then, drawing budding reproductive organs on the chalk board, he bursts into song.

``If you want to be happy for the rest for your life, never make a pretty woman your wife, from my personal view. . .'' Oppenheimer sings.

And almost in unison the class chimes in: ``. . . get an ugly girl to marry you.''

For Oppenheimer, science is about having fun. But the award-winning educator's tactics for teaching and his passion for student learning go far beyond silly antics and catchy crooning.

While most university professors are busy obsessing over their own research, in his 28 years at CSUN, Oppenheimer, 55, has won a reputation for getting undergraduate and graduate students involved in Ph.D.-quality research - and getting their work published.

Over the past 20 years he has received nearly $5 million in grants from leading research organizations including the American Cancer Society, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and NASA.

His awards include the California State University's Outstanding Professor Award and he has been named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

``I've known him since the mid-70s. He's given the department of biology and the college a lot of visibility,'' said Edward J. Carroll Jr., Dean of CSUN's College of Science and Mathematics. ``He's very excited and very enthusiastic. He's a perfect example of a lifelong learner and that's what we foster here.''

For Oppenheimer, it's simply a matter of doing what you like to do.

``I liked science from the beginning. I had a good science teacher that made a big difference,'' Oppenheimer said, between classes, leaning back in a worn chair in his lab. ``I just liked it. I still find it fun. To me this is not work. All this is fun.''

Graduate biology student Monica J. Tully, 26, of Van Nuys has been studying with Oppenheimer since her junior year. She was recently accepted to the Ph.D. program in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology at Cornell University in New York.

``There is no professor who does the sort of things he does. He's very down-to-earth and laid back, which is a good nurturing thing,'' Tully said. ``He's a father to all of us. We call him our intellectual father.''

Each day, for about the past 28 years, Oppenheimer bicycles from his Darby Avenue home across from CSUN on his blue Schwinn to his office.

He spends much of his time in an unglamorous, cramped, florescent-lit basement in Science Building 2, overseeing student research. The lab is overflowing with filing cabinets, outdated furniture, beakers and microscopes. He keeps pieces of paper, ripped off from letters and envelopes, addresses and phone numbers of former students taped up on one filing cabinet.

All of it, along with Oppenheimer's own humble demeanor, belies a highly decorated and enviable career.

``Enthusiasm, I think that helps. Every morning when I wake up I'm eager to come in,'' he said. ``It's like doing your hobby.''

Knowing his stuff doesn't hurt.

``I take difficult material and I present it with enthusiasm and with clarity. I wrote the book, well a book, on embryology so I know this material. Some people, they themselves don't really know the subject that well and then they can't teach it properly.''

Over the years, Oppenheimer, as director of CSUN's Center for Cancer Research and Developmental Biology, has had hundreds of his students work with him on his research on cell interaction in cancer and embryo cells. Using purple sea urchins for testing instead of mice, he and more than 200 of his students have co-published 130 publications over the last 28 years.

But Oppenheimer didn't stop at college students.

Four years ago, he created the ``Journal of Student Research Abstracts,'' and began publishing scientific abstracts from experiments done by students from elementary through high school, as well as teachers. The experiments range from one Lancaster middle school student who, in order to test the taste sensitivity of the elderly, fed his grandfather lime Jell-O, chocolate and popcorn. Another student in Baltimore studied ``the chromatographic make-up of rose petals.''

Most recently, Oppenheimer received a three-year, $395,772 grant from the National Science Foundation to establish summer research fellowships for science instructors who teach grades five through 12. Teachers from across Los Angeles are being invited to apply to work six weeks in a CSUN lab with one of 16 biology professors in areas such as molecular biology, ecology, plant physiology, neurobiology and genetics. Teachers who successfully complete the program will be awarded an $1,800 stipend.

Believed to be one of the largest grants of its kind ever awarded in the greater Los Angeles area, 120 teachers from across Los Angeles will participate in the program and bring their experience back to their classrooms. Their students will then present their research to the NSF at a symposium and the findings will be published in Oppenheimer's abstract journal.

Many of Oppenheimer's own students go on to earn Ph.D.s at some of the top universities in the country, and become doctors, dentists or pharmacologists.

In fact, last year CSUN was named first in the U.S., compared with 500 other similar universities, for the number of graduates in science and social science who went on to get their doctorates.

Valentina Goren, 22, a senior biology major, knows her chances of getting into dental school will be better with a letter from Oppenheimer.

``He's one of my favorites,'' said Goren, who attends his embryology class. ``He gives good lectures. He draws everything (on the board), even in different colors because the book is black and white. He really takes his time.''

Oppenheimer was born in 1944, the only child of German Jewish immigrants. His parents fled to the U.S. right before the Nazi occupation and settled in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where Oppenheimer was raised.

As an only child, he was left with plenty of time to explore and delve into the mysteries of nature. Early in his childhood, science fascinated him. When he wasn't watching his favorite television show, ``Mr. Wizard,'' he was raising tropical fish and collecting butterflies, leaves and frogs.

After receiving his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and completing his post-doctorate work at the University of California, San Diego, Oppenheimer was a finalist for starting professorships at Carnegie-Mellon University, University of West Virginia and City University of New York, Brooklyn College, but he took the job at CSUN, which gave him his first offer.

For Oppenheimer, the most rewarding part of his job - aside from having his students laugh at his jokes - is to see them grow.

``I get a big kick out of seeing my students go on and do great things and become professors and doctors and dentists,'' he said. ``The key is liking what you do. That's the key to happiness. This is what I always had in mind.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Award-winning Professor Steven Oppenheimer of California State University, Northridge lectures during one of his science classes.

(2) Students in one of Steven Oppenheimer's science classes at CSUN take notes.

Phil McCarten/Daily News