Faculty Members
AMSEC Director
Stephen McDowall
Professor of Mathematics
Research Area: Inverse problems in partial differential equations.
Faculty Membership
AMSEC's faculty associates include nationally recognized experts in a wide range of disciplines and research areas.
Faculty members are nominated and selected for four-year terms.
Current Membership
Ying Bao
Assistant Professor of Analytical Chemistry
Research Area: Synthesis and surface modification of nanoparticles.
Robert Berger
Assistant Professor of Computational Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry
Research Area: Using computation to design and understand the structural and electronic properties of novel metal oxide materials.
Marion Brodhagen
Associate Professor of Biology
Research Area: Plant-microbe interactions, secondary metabolites, aflatoxin, biodegradable plastics in agriculture.
Mark Bussell
Professor of Physical & Materials Chemistry
Research Area: Surface and materials chemistry, with an emphasis on the development of new heterogeneous catalysts for the production of clean fuels.
Susan DeBari
Professor of Geology
Research Area: Use of crystal chemistry and growth zoning patterns to interpret magma origins, storage conditions, and eruption processes.
Steven Emory
Associate Professor of Analytical & Materials Chemistry
Research Area: Characterization and use of novel metal and semiconductor nanomaterials in the development of new ultrasensitive chemical methods of detection and identification.
John Gilbertson
Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry
Research Area: Scientific problems dealing with global climate change and CO2 utilization.
Nicole Hoekstra
Professor of Plastics & Composites Engineering
Research Area: Polymer product design and manufacturing, polymer analysis.
Brad Johnson
Dean, College of Science & Engineering, Professor of Physics
Research Area: Theoretical and Computational Condensed Matter Physics.
Tom Kowalczyk
Assistant Professor of Physical & Computational Chemistry
Research Area: Organic materials that combine light-absorbing and electrically conducting components in a single package.
Mike Larsen
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Research Area: Molecular structure of polymers to enable new applications.
Nicole Larson
Associate Professor of Plastics & Composites Engineering
Research Area: New product development and testing.
Janelle Leger
Professor of Physics/Astronomy, Chemistry, & Materials Science
Research Area: Organic and hybrid materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices including light-emitting diodes, solar cells, memory cells, and transistors.
Stephen McDowall
AMSEC Director, Professor of Mathematics
Research Area: Inverse problems in partial differential equations.
G McGrew
Instructor of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Science
Research Area: Organometallic chemistry; catalysis; behavior of asymmetric organolithium compounds; chemistry education
Milton From
Associate Professor of Physics
Research Area: Magnetic and optical properties of thin films.
John Misasi
Assistant Professor of Plastics & Composites Engineering
Research Area: Scalable synthesis of recyclable thermosetting polymers for composite matrices, with a focus on understanding network material properties and degradation pathways and products.
Sean Mulcahy
Assistant Professor of Geology
Research Area: Mineral chemistry and geochronology to understand how plate boundaries and mountain belts form and evolve.
Amanda Murphy
Assistant Professor of Materials & Organic Chemistry
Research Area: Broadly interested in tailoring the molecular structure of conjugated organic polymers in order to control the fundamental properties of the bulk materials.
Gregory O'Neil
Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry
Research Area: Enantioselective synthesis of biologically and environmentally compelling natural products including certain algal biofuel-related research.
David Patrick
Professor of Analytical, Materials, & Physical Chemistry
Research Area: Surface and materials chemistry, ordered molecular systems, and organic thin films.
Mark Peyron
Assistant Professor of Plastics & Composites Engineering
Research Area: Potentially biodegradable polymers and identifying methods for assessing the extent of degradation (based upon changes in mechanical properties, polymer chain length and composition, etc.) as well as developing new polymers capable of more readily decaying in soil, composting, and marine environments.
Armin Rahmani
Assistant Professor of Physics
Research Area: Theoretical quantum condensed matter physics and quantum information processing.
Melissa Rice
Assistant Professor of Geology & Physics
Research Area: Planetary geology, remote sensing, robotic space exploration.
David Rider
Assistant Professor of Materials Chemistry and Plastics & Composites Engineering
Research Area: The design, synthesis and self-assembly of organic and inorganic semiconductors for applications in nanotechnology and materials science.
Andreas Riemann
Associate Professor of Physics
Research Area: Fabrication and characterization of nanostructures and ultrathin films on surfaces.
Takele Seda
Associate Professor
Research Area: Magnetic and electronic properties of iron bearing materials and minerals.
Peter M.A. Sherwood
Affiliate Professor of Chemistry & Physics
Research Area: Surface analysis (especially X ray photoelectron spectroscopy) of materials with a particular interest in electrode surfaces, corrosion systems, and carbon fiber and composite surfaces.
Serge Smirnov
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Research Area: How structure and dynamics of proteins interplay with their biological function.
James Vyvyan
Professor of Organic Chemistry
Research Area: The broad field of synthetic chemistry with detailed analysis of NMR spectra to characterize new compounds and assign relative stereochemistry.