Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, University of New Hampshire M.S. Physical Chemistry, University of Illinois B.A. Chemistry, Brandeis University

Because of its large surface area, activated carbon is routinely used in everything from treating wastewater to accidental poisonings. My current main research interest is in the computational modeling of adsorption of pollutants onto activated carbon. Our research has been successful in developing a predictive model which uses a combination of a docking algorithm (used primarily in biochemistry) with standard quantum mechanical techniques such as PM3. The long term goal of the research is to develop a model which can be used to predict competitive adsorption trends (adsorption with more than one pollutant competing for an active site on the carbon). Additionally, I am very interested in chemical education and have been very active in developing new and novel labs for general chemistry. These labs are designed to engage students as active learners and to expose them to modern techniques and instrumentation even within the context of their first chemistry courses