Faculty Research Interests

Louise Dawe 

Small molecule X-ray crystallography and supramolecular chemistry (coordination polymers, metal-organic frameworks, data-mining long-range interactions.) Ethics in chemical education and the integration of crystallography into undergraduate curriculum.

Lillian DeBruin

Functional characterization of membrane micro-domains using biophysical and biochemical approaches. Current projects include role of myelin microdomains in development, maintenance, and disease.

Aravindhan Ganesan

Computational molecular biosciences and drug discovery; Development of new computational tools for structural biology analyses; 

Dmitri Goussev

Synthesis of organometallic compounds of transition metals with ‘pincer’-type ligands for hydrogenation of polar C=O and C=N bonds and applications in catalytic C-H and N-H bond activation, dehydrogenation and functionalization of hydrocarbons.

Geoff Horsman

Biochemical characterization of microbial enzymes and pathways. Current projects include natural products biosynthesis and metagenomic exploration of microbial phosphorus mineralization mechanisms.

Vladimir Kitaev

Synthesis and optical properties of nanoparticles (NPs). Control of shape, size and functional properties of gold and sliver NPs. Metallodielectric composites. Chiral NPs and clusters. Photochemical transformations of nanoparticles.

Stephen MacNeil

Synthetic organic chemistry; preparation and applications of new ionic liquids; synthesis and Applications of condensed aromatic and heteroaromatic systems; construction and applications of helicenes and related compounds.

Steven Maley

Computational design of earth abundant transition-metal catalysts; iron catalysts for cross-coupling reactions, CO2 hydrogenation, and photoredox reactions; machine learning models to reveal reactivity principles and aid in the design of new catalysts.

Kenneth Maly

Design, synthesis, and characterization of new organic materials. Organic building blocks that self-assemble to form new liquid crystalline materials with applications ranging from organic electronics to gas storage and catalysis.

Scott Smith

Aquatic environmental chemistry with applications in water treatment and environmental protection. Projects are driven by regulatory requirements from the water treatment and metal industries, e.g. wastewater phosphate removal.

Michael Suits

Structural biology using X-ray crystallography and biomolecular interactions. Research interests are modes of carbohydrate recognition and degradation by microbial proteins.

Dirk Wallschläger

Selenium in freshwater ecosystems and associated industrial operations; instrumental analysis; environmental chemistry and toxicology; industrial process stream treatment.