Search: Faculty directory, Chemistry
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Boering, Kristie
Submitted by sprowles on April 3, 2008 - 3:53pm.Name of Person:
Kristie Boering
Picture:
Department:
Chemistry, Associate Professor
Earth and Planetary Science, Associate Professor
Research Interests:
We study through atmospheric observations, computer modeling, and laboratory experiments interesting couplings between atmospheric chemistry and climate and their implications for life on earth – from billions of years ago to the near future. We currently have two main foci: Measurements from NASA U2 spyplanes and high altitude balloons, coupled with modeling and analysis, allow us to better quantify the sources and sinks of important direct or indirect greenhouse gases such as CO2, N2O, CH4, and H2 in today's atmosphere. Laboratory experiments simulating the atmospheres of early Earth and Mars allow us to probe whether or not hydrocarbon ("soot") hazes may have provided an additional greenhouse effect or an "antigreenhouse" effect and thereby affected the surface temperatures and the stability of liquid water in the first 2 billion years of these planets' histories.
Alivisatos, Paul
Submitted by cmjones on March 16, 2007 - 12:53pm.Name of Person:
Paul Alivisatos
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Department:
Chemistry, Professor
Research Interests:
Physical Chemistry of Semiconductor Nanocrystals. Optical, electrical, and thermodynamic properties of a new class of materials, semiconductor nanocrystals, are investigated.
Achievements:
Chemist Paul Alivisatos's pioneering research into tiny nanocrystals and nanorods is paying off in big ways. Chemically-pure clusters of anywhere from 100 to 100,000 atoms, Alivisatos's nanocystals and nanorods have myriad applications that impact the macroworld -- from tagging biological samples for genetic analysis and drug discovery to the creation of plastic solar cells that can be painted onto any surface. Alivisatos's latest small tech innovation nanotechnology is potentially a giant leap in solar energy. Several months ago, the group reported a technique to make flexible solar cells that could someday provide power for next-generation mobile phones, handheld computers, and wearable electronics. The first prototypes boast efficiencies of 1.7 percent. This means that they can only convert 1.7 percent of the energy they receive from the sun into electricity, far less than the 10 percent efficiency of today's commercial photovoltaics. The contributions of Alivisatos and his colleague Eicke Weber hold the promise to drop the cost of solar cells by an order of magnitude, with a related movement away from poly-crystalline silicon to amorphous silicon, plastic, and organic cells.
Kirsch, Jack
Submitted by cmjones on March 5, 2007 - 2:22pm.Name of Person:
Jack Kirsch
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Department:
Molecular and Cell Biology, Professor
Research Interests:
Understanding quantitatively the effects of single and multiple amino acid substitutions on: 1. enzyme activity, 2. protein stability and 3. protein-protein complexes.
Kirsch, Jack
Submitted by cmjones on April 2, 2007 - 2:20pm.Name of Person:
Jack Kirsch
Picture:
Department:
Chemistry, Professor
Research Interests:
Understanding quantitatively the effects of single and multiple amino acid substitutions on: 1. enzyme activity, 2. protein stability and 3. protein-protein complexes.
Fleming, Graham
Submitted by cmjones on March 2, 2007 - 2:41pm.Name of Person:
Graham Fleming
Picture:
Department:
Chemistry, Professor
Research Interests:
Chemical and Biological Dynamics in the Condensed Phase -- Ultrafast Spectroscopy combined with theory and simulation is used to investigate many-body dynamics in liquids, solutions, glasses, and proteins, especially photosynthetic proteins.
Cohen, Ronald
Submitted by cmjones on March 16, 2007 - 1:48pm.Name of Person:
Ronald Cohen
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Department:
Earth and Planetary Science, Associate Professor
Research Interests:
Atmospheric Chemistry -- A detailed mechanistic understanding of the potential for human activity to cause global change is being developed. Experiments in Professor Cohen's group address the connection between molecular reactions and regional or global scale atmospheric phenomena.
Achievements:
Professor Cohen's group addresses the connection between molecular reactions and regional or global scale atmospheric phenomena: What chemical reactions control whether ozone is locally produced or consumed in the urban and remote troposphere? How do these regional processes affect the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere on a global scale? What are the primary reactions controlling the rate of photochemical removal of ozone in the stratosphere? What are the natural and human induced variations in the concentrations of the free radicals that are rate limiting in these reactions? What is the molecular event during evaporation of water? These questions guide an interdisciplinary chemical/geophysical approach to exploring the structure and dynamics of the earth-ocean-atmosphere system. Cohen’s work emphasizes development of new technologies to obtain detailed observations of atmospheric composition and to validate and interpret large-scale records obtained from space-borne instruments.
Cohen, Ronald
Submitted by cmjones on February 28, 2007 - 2:16pm.Name of Person:
Ronald Cohen
Picture:
Department:
Chemistry, Associate Professor
Research Interests:
Atmospheric Chemistry -- A detailed mechanistic understanding of the potential for human activity to cause global change is being developed. Experiments in Professor Cohen's group address the connection between molecular reactions and regional or global scale atmospheric phenomena.
Achievements:
Professor Cohen's group addresses the connection between molecular reactions and regional or global scale atmospheric phenomena: What chemical reactions control whether ozone is locally produced or consumed in the urban and remote troposphere? How do these regional processes affect the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere on a global scale? What are the primary reactions controlling the rate of photochemical removal of ozone in the stratosphere? What are the natural and human induced variations in the concentrations of the free radicals that are rate limiting in these reactions? What is the molecular event during evaporation of water? These questions guide an interdisciplinary chemical/geophysical approach to exploring the structure and dynamics of the earth-ocean-atmosphere system. Cohen’s work emphasizes development of new technologies to obtain detailed observations of atmospheric composition and to validate and interpret large-scale records obtained from space-borne instruments.