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.