Position: Physical Chemistry

Mentor:

Edward A. Wovchko (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is an experimental physical chemist specializing in the analysis of fundamental chemical processes occurring on the surfaces of high area materials using spectroscopy and ultrahigh vacuum techniques. He is interested in developing synthetic routes using heterogeneous photocatalysts, studying the surface chemistry of novel materials, and investigating the thermal destruction of hazardous molecules on solid adsorbents. Ed teaches General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, and advanced courses in physical chemistry and inorganic chemistry. Please refer to http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Chem/ewovchko/ for further information.

Qualifications and Responsibilities of Candidate:

By the time of appointment, the successful candidate should have a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, or chemical engineering. He or she must be committed to quality teaching at a small liberal arts and sciences college. Strong instrumentation skills and experience with FTIR, GC-MS, Raman spectroscopy, laser photochemistry, vacuum techniques, catalytic flow reactors, and surface analysis are extremely desirable.

The Keck Fellow will initially team-teach general chemistry and/or physical chemistry laboratory under the supervision of Ed Wovchko and other chemistry faculty. During subsequent semesters, teaching responsibilities may include general chemistry, general chemistry laboratory, physical chemistry, physical chemistry laboratory, and advanced courses or seminars. The fellow is expected to contribute in the development of new experiments to acquaint students with important phenomena in physical chemistry and experiments involving the application of physical chemistry in other disciplines.

The Keck Fellow will conduct research in collaboration with Ed Wovchko in a newly renovated laboratory designed specifically for experimental physical/analytical chemistry. We also have several work stations equipped with major computer packages, such as GAUSSIAN and Spartan, for ab initio molecular quantum mechanical calculations and density functional theory computations. The fellow may assist in the supervision of undergraduate and graduate student research projects. He or she will be encouraged to publish work, seek funding, and pursue personal research interests.

Representative Publications:

1. Bond Activation in Molecules Using Photochemically Generated Catalyst Sites - Rh^I(CO)₂/Al₂O₃ Surface Chemistry, Wovchko, E.A.; Yates, J.T., Jr. review article Langmuir 1999, 15, 3506.
2. Electronic Excitation of Rh^I(CO)₂ Species on Al₂O₃ Surfaces - Photodissociation of the Rh^I-CO bond, Wovchko, E.A.; Zubkov, T.S.; Yates, J.T., Jr. J. Phys. Chem. B 1998, 102, 10535.
3. Photochemical Activation of CO2 on Rh^I(CO)₂/Al₂O₃ - CO₂ Dissociation and Oxygen Atom Exchange, Wovchko, E.A.; Yates, J.T., Jr. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 7544.
4. Reducing Radiation Damage in Raman Spectroscopy of Powdered Materials, Wovchko, E.A.; Yates, J.T., Jr.; Scheithauer, M.; KnÖzinger, H. Langmuir 1998, 14, 552.
5. FTIR Study of the Adsorption and Thermal Behavior of Vinyltriethoxysilane Chemisorbed on g-Al₂O₃, Kuznetsova, A.P.; Wovchko, E.A.; Yates, J.T., Jr. Langmuir 1997, 13, 5322.
6. Nitrogen Chemisorption on Coordinatively Unsaturated Rh^I site on Al₂O₃, Wovchko, E.A.; Yates, J.T., Jr. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 10250.
7. Reaction of Atomic Hydrogen with Hydrogenated Porous Silicon - Detection of Precursor to Silane Formation, Glass, J.A., Jr.; Wovchko, E.A.; Yates, J.T., Jr. Surf. Sci. 1996, 348, 325.
8. The Heterogeneous Photochemical Activation of H₂ - Photoreduction of Rh^I(CO)₂/Al₂O₃ by H₂, Wovchko, E.A.; Yates, J.T., Jr. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 12557.
9. Decomposition of CCl₄ on CaO, Koper, O.B.; Wovchko, E.A.; Glass, J.A, Jr.; Yates, J.T., Jr.; Klabunde, K.J. Langmuir 1995, 11, 2054.
10. Active Sites on SiO₂ - Role in CH₃OH Decomposition, Wovchko, E.A.; Camp, J.C.; Glass, J.A., Jr.; Yates, J.T., Jr. Langmuir 1995, 11, 2592.