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We are an interdisciplinary group of scientists who share a common interest in the chemical and physical properties of surfaces and interfaces. Current students in the group have interests in analytical, materials, physical, and biological chemistry, and materials science.
Our interests are primarily in the area of surface and interface chemistry, especially interfaces between inorganic materials (silicon, diamond, nanotubes, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) and organic / biological molecules. Much of our research lies at the intersection of microelectronics, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. We have a strong effort in the synthesis, functionalization, and manipulation of nanomaterials. Many of our newest projects have a strong emphasis on various aspects of renewable energy, including energy storage, electrocatalysis, and photovoltaic energy conversion.
We use a wide range of surface-sensitive experimental methods, including (but not limited to) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, electrochemistry, impedance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, microwave reflectivity, and a variety of chemical and biochemical synthetic methods.
We currently have a number of major research projects. Please visit the research section to learn more about them.
Much our our research is funded by research grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. We have strong industrial collaborations with IBM Corporation, Smiths Detection/Sensir Technologies, and GenTel BioSurfaces.
We have published more than 200 scientific papers in a wide range of chemistry, physics, and biology journals. You can see a list of publications with pdf's on our web site. Very recent publications (submitted or not yet published) may not be listed yet.
Lots of people! According to the Institute of Scientific Information, we are one of the most highly cited (referenced) research group in the world, with more than 10,000 citations in the scientific literature to group publications; this places us in the top 0.5% of all publishing scientific groups. The ISI classifies our research as "Materials Science".
Time to graduation is not fixed, but varies depending on the project and the abilities of the student. Typical time to graduation is 4.5 years start-to-finish. The historical range is from 3.5 years to 5.5 years.
As of February 2008, 26 students have received their Ph.D. in our group, along with a number of students jointly supervised with other groups. This number includes 13 females and 13 males. A list of alumni can be found here.
Graduates from the group are well equipped for research and teaching positions in industry, government, and academia and have been very successful competing in the job market. Some recent graduates and current positions include: Bo Li (3M), Jeremy Streifer (Intel Corp.), Heesuk Kim (KIST - Korean Institute of Science and Technology), Bin Sun (Foley&Lardner), Kevin Metz (Albion College), Lu Shang (KLA Tencor), Kiu-Yuen Tse (3M), Beth Nichols (Dow Chemical), Sarah Baker (UC-Santa Barbara), Tami Lasseter Clare (Univ. of Pennsylvania), Wensha Yang (University of Virginia), Wei Cai (General Electric R&D), Bo Hu (General Electric R&D), Christina Hacker (NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology), Mike Schwartz (Univ. of Colorado), Liang Fang (Arkema, Inc.), Xiaoping Cao (Pharmacia Upjohn), Molly McGuire (Bucknell University), Sarah Coulter (Whirlpool Corp.), Mark Ellison (Ursinus College), Hongbing Liu (CTO - Chief Technical Officer, Lionax, Inc.), and Ernie Frank (Dow Chemical).
To learn more about what we do and about research opportunities, please contact us directly.