Teaching

Graduate courses:

Chem 518 : Symmetry and Spectroscopy. Physical Methods for Inorganic Chemistry

This is a lecture-based course, in which we will examine the ways in which one may exploit the symmetry of molecules to simplify the analysis of chemical and materials systems. The course is split into two parts. The first part will start with consideration of the mathematical description of symmetry and then apply this to the description of electronic states of molecules and extended solids. The second part of the course will examine several forms of spectroscopy, such as EPR, NMR, vibrational, electronic, etc. Prerequisites for this course are physical chemistry and organic chemistry.

Chem 538: Spectroscopic Methods in Bioinorganic Chemistry

The goals of this course are to overview spectroscopic techniques available in bioinorganic chemistry, to gain an understanding of the area of application of each spectroscopic method discuss and gain confidence in applying these techniques to your research. Basic principles of spin Hamiltonian formalism and how to apply these principles to spectroscopic data analysis are discussed.

PAST teaching:

Chem 466: Molecular Thermodynamics

Introduction to physical chemistry with a primary emphasis on the statistical and molecular interpretation of thermodynamics. This is a physical chemistry course that emphasizes the statistical and molecular interpretation of thermodynamics. This focus enables the student to consider macroscopic properties based on the constituent molecular properties. After a very brief introduction to classical thermodynamics, the statistics of large systems is introduced, used to develop the Boltzmann distribution of energies, and then combined with the quantum mechanical structure of energy levels to form a basis to predict and understand atomic and molecular properties such as heat capacity and chemical reaction equilibrium. Solution thermodynamics, interfacial phenomena, and colligative properties are discussed in terms of lattice models. The course then turns to a molecular view of transport and chemical reaction rates. Molecular transport is described in terms of random molecular motion and intermolecular forces that tie together to give macroscopic behavior such as ionic conductivity and mass diffusion. Reaction rates are formulated in terms of the distributions of energies and statistical probabilities of the combined reactants in a transition state. Cooperativity in phase transitions is discussed, followed by adsorption and catalysis. Examples with proteins and other biomolecules, as well as polymers and various solutions, appear throughout the course.