B.A., Oberlin College, 1996 
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2000 
EIU, 2001

Research Interests

    I am interested in several different types of spectroscopy. My doctoral research focused on microwave spectroscopy of weakly bound dimers and trimers, an area that I have been able to pursue at EIU in collaboration with Dr. Sean Peebles's group. Other interests involve the use of vibrational spectroscopy to investigate various environmental problems. Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) is a relatively new and very sensitive spectroscopic technique which is extremely versatile. Its high sensitivity allows the study of species in very low concentrations and also makes the observation of very weak spectroscopic transitions possible.

      A cavity ring-down spectrometer is currently being constructed at EIU and when it is complete it will be used to investigate weak interactions between chemicals that are present in the atmosphere (SO₂, NO_x, CO₂, H₂O, etc.).  I am also studying these species by ab initio and semi-empirical computational techniques in order to gain a better understanding of the molecular interactions before beginning on spectroscopic investigations.