Jim Spain dedicated his life to education, teaching over 40 years of college level courses, between Michigan Technological University, University of British Columbia, Eastern Michigan University, and Clemson University.

He had obtained a position on the MTU faculty by returning a postcard, but within a few short years he was influential in developing a new Biological Sciences Department and was appointed it's head. He has been a pioneer in many fields, including the histochemical study of rat liver cancer, discovering precipitation chromatography, using oceanographic techniques to study the estuaries of Lake Superior, publishing texts on the application of personal computers in the study of Biology, starting a university center for instructional computing and ultimately creating leading edge computer software for the study of General Chemistry.

Over 750,000 copies of the software programs, such as pictured below, have been sold to College and AP Chemistry students across the country by the Spain's publishing company over a 16-year period.

Follow his life story Perusing for Pioneer Pathways through interesting areas of science and technology to discover what lessons his life might provide.