Research in Chemistry and Physics

All students in chemistry and physics majors will be part of undergraduate research. This will begin with a course, usually taken in the sophomore or junior year, which introduces students to the research process. The student will then be part of one or more research groups during their junior and senior years. These projects have included working with NASA, the Navy, the Air Force, and numerous private companies. Some recent and current research appears below.

Some recent and current projects and collaborators with which our students have been involved include:

• Bubble fusion
• Spectroscopic studies of C2 and Ni atom during carbon nanotube formation (NASA)
• Computational chemistry involving carbon nanotube precursors (NASA)
• Computational chemistry of atomic oxygen with rocket effluents (USAF)
• Synthesis and characterization of electrochromic polymers. (Pleotint LLC)
• Gold and silver nanolayers on tin-oxide nanowires (NRL)
• Bent-core liquid crystals
• Liquid crystalline calix[6]arenes
• Low generation liquid crystalline dendrimers
• Naturally occurring antioxidants (curcumin, resveratrol, pigments in flowers)

Undergraduate research has been supported by the collaborating agency for the indicated projects and in general by the Welch Foundation.