Joseph J. Topping was born and raised in Amsterdam, New York. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from LeMoyne College in Syracuse and his M.S. and Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of New Hampshire. After completing his postdoctoral research at the Ames Laboratory of Iowa State University, working with James Fritz, he joined the chemistry department at Towson University. He holds the rank of Professor and has just completed thirty years of teaching, writing and research at Towson.

Professor Topping has a variety of papers and publications focusing on separation and analysis applied principally to environmental systems. He has been involved in textbook writing projects for the last twenty years and has more recently become involved in NSF-sponsored projects to improve science education at the elementary and middle schools levels.

Professor Topping and his wife, Lucy, are the parents of a daughter and two sons. For relaxation, he enjoys reading, music, and fly-fishing. He also plays golf and softball (neither very well) and is a life-long baseball card collector.