IU STARS Mentors - Chemistry
Mu-Hyun Baik: We make computer models of molecules that either do something useful or something interesting. One such molecule is cisplatin, a structurally simple platinum-based anticancer drug that is being used widely in chemotherapy today. In computer simulations, we are searching for a new Pt-based drug that is more active, has less side-effects and/or can be used against tumors that cisplatin cannot fight.
David Clemmer
Structures of large low-symmetry molecules in the gas phase and the step-by-step motions explaining the connectivity of the various isomers, using and developing a variety of techniques to separate gas-phase isomers, discern structural information, and follow isomerization processes.
Romualdo De Souza: Study of nuclear matter under extreme conditions of temperature, density, deformation, and isospin; Clusterization phenomena in a complex quantum system; solid state granularity detectors; high density/speed analog and digital electronics; imaging in medical physics.
Bogdan Dragnea: Research focuses on the understanding of the correlations between structure and properties of nanostructures (at spacial scales of a millionth of an inch). My group is interested in semiconductor quantum dots, metal nanocrystals, micelles and self organization.
Amar Flood: We think of chemical compounds as functional molecules that can serve as machines akin to those in the world around us. Our research focuses on molecular wires for use in electronic circuits and on molecular motors to power molecular machines. In practice, we use standard synthetic techniques in conjunction with self-assembly to make the compounds and incorporate them into hybrid devices that we then interrogate using electrochemistry, spectroscopy and probe microscopy.
David Geidroc
Working in four separate areas united by their common use of the tools of biophysical chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry and structural biology to solve interesting "nucleic acid-centric" problems in biological regulation.
Srinivasan Iyengar: We deal with the development of new theoretical and computational methods and the subsequent implementation of these into efficient computational models. The methods are derived with an aim to help solve problems in biophysical chemistry and the nano-material science. Our instrumentation is the computer and the mathematical and theoretical frameworks that we derive, and our field of study is the challenging and richly interesting world of chemistry.
Caroline Jarrold: Our research involves the application of mass spectrometry, anion photoelectron spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations toward probing the reactivity of environmentally relevant chemical systems. Projects are diverse, and include the optimization of metal oxide-based heterogeneous catalyts, determining mechanisms of tropospheric ozone formation, and directly mapping charge transfer energetics in molecules targeted for solar energy harvesting.
Martin Jarrold
Issues involving the nanometer length scale, ranging from the melting and freezing of size-selected clusters, to weighing viruses, and the self-assembly of peptide nanostructures.
Dongwhan Lee: We are designing and synthesizing small molecules and their higher-order assemblies that can amplify locally occurring molecular motions to large-scale structural changes.Ê These "shape-adaptive" chemical architectures undergo reversible and measurable changes in their electronic and optical properties, thereby allowing us to develop sensors, switches, and actuators operating at molecular level.
Liang-shi Li: My group works on organic and inorganic materials for solar cells and optical neuron imaging. Our goals are to develop efficient, low-cost solar cells and to develop tools to understand how brain works. Our work is highly interdisciplinary, including design of the materials from basic physics and chemistry principles, synthesis of the materials, and characterizing material performance in solar cell devices or nerve cells.
Daniel J. Mindiola: Synthesis of reaction chemistry of low-coordinate transition metal complexes having metal-ligand multiple bonds. Emphasis on catalytic and mechanistic organometallic chemistry, in particular alkene and imine metathesis, and group transfer or Wittig transfer reactions.
Martha Oakley
Two major areas involving specific recognition by proteins of biologically relevant ligands with a multidisciplinary approach, combining techniques from biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, and organic chemistry to address these issues.
Peter Ortoleva: Studies using computer modeling to understand the workings of the living cell and the virus. This research has fundamental, pharmaceutical, and biotechnical applications.
Dennis G. Peters: Electroanalytical chemistry; organic electrochemistry; electrochemical catalysis with organometallic species.
Thomas Tolbert
An interdisciplinary approach applying both chemistry and molecular biology to develop new synthetic techniques and research tools that are then used to study biological systems and to discover and produce treatments for diseases.
Michael VanNieuwenhze
Using the power of organic synthesis to study problems of biological and medicinal interest.
David Williams
Synthetic organic chemistry taking fundamental studies in the chemistry of recently discovered, biologically active natural products, such as terpenes, alkaloids, and antibiotics, which are structurally unique and thus far unexplored
Jeffrey Zaleski: Studies involving the use of various steady state and time-resolved spectroscopic methods including optical absorption, Raman, and circular dichroism to investigate the structure and kinetics of biologically relevant intermediates involved in enzyme and drug-related reaction mechanisms. This information is important in determining the pathways by which multi-step biochemical reactions occur.
