Physical Chemistry Research
Penn State chemistry advances the frontiers of emerging and traditional areas of physical chemistry research, ranging from collective nonequilibrium biological phenomena and plasmonic nanoparticles to protein dynamics and chemical dynamics in solution. We develop and apply advanced spectroscopic techniques and computational methods that transcend conventional boundaries to incisively probe outstanding questions from biological, energy, environmental, and materials chemistry. We thrive via strongly integrated interdisciplinary collaborations.
Faculty
Igor Aronson Huck Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry and Mathematics
Experiments and theory for nonequilibrium active materials
John Asbury Professor of Chemistry
Ultrafast spectroscopy of photovoltaic materials
Phil Bevilacqua Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biophysics and bioinformatics of RNA
David Boehr Associate Professor of Chemistry
NMR spectroscopy of protein dynamics
Bert Chandler Professor of Chemistry and of Chemical Engineering
Environmental Catalysis; Nanoparticle & Materials Synthesis; Catalytic Reaction Mechanisms
Paul Cremer J. Lloyd Huck Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Spectroscopy of proteins, complex solutions, and interfaces
Miriam Freedman Professor of Chemistry
Spectroscopy and microscopy of interfaces and aerosols
Danielle Reifsnyder Hickey Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering
Atomic-resolution investigation, transformation, and synthesis of nanomaterials
Lasse Jensen Professor of Chemistry
Theory and computational methods for surface spectroscopies
Chris Keating Professor of Chemistry
Phase behavior in model biological cells and bottom-up self-assembly
Ken Knappenberger Professor of Chemistry
Ultrafast spectroscopy of light-harvesting nanomaterials
Gerald Knizia Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Electronic structure theory and computational methods
Ben Lear Associate Professor of Chemistry
Spectroscopy of nanoparticle surfaces
Tae-Hee Lee Professor of Chemistry
Single-molecule spectroscopy of nucleosomes
Stewart A. Mallory Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Computational, Theoretical, Materials.
Mark Maroncelli Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
Spectroscopy and simulations of solvation and complex solvents
Will Noid Professor of Chemistry
Statistical physics of proteins and active materials, multiscale modeling
Ed O’Brien Associate Professor of Chemistry and of the Institute for CyberScience
Theory and computational methods for biophysics in vivo
Scott Showalter Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
NMR spectroscopy and biophysics of intrinsically disordered proteins
Alexey Silakov Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Spectroscopy of metalloenzymes and intrinsically disordered proteins
Lauren Zarzar Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Stimuli-responsive materials, laser synthesis and patterning
Ruobo Zhou Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Super-resolution fluorescence imaging, single-molecule detection, spatiotemporal organizations of biomolecules, liquid-liquid phase separation in biology, neurobiology, RNA biology.
Courtesy Faculty
Vincent Crespi Distinguished Professor of Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, and Chemistry
Theories for novel materials
Nikolay Dokholyan G. Thomas Passananti Professor, Penn State College of Medicine
Theory and experiments for translational medicine
Denise Okafor Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Experiments and simulations of protein function
Rob M. Rioux Friedrich G. Helfferich Professor of Chemical Engineering
Surface spectroscopy of catalysts
Susan Sinnott Department Head Materials Science and Engineering
Computational studies of surfaces, interfaces, defects, layered materials, and nanoscale materials
Adri Van Duin Kenneth Kuan-Yun Kuo Early Career Professor
Development of models and simulation tools for chemical reactions
Adjunct Faculty
Xin Zhang
Biophysics of protein aggregation in vivo