My areas of research include bionanomaterials, inorganic-organic drug delivery vehicles, catalytic ligninolysis, and the development of course-based research experiences (CUREs) for equitable UG education and research. This research is conducted, curated, and disseminated primarily by UGs working under my supervision.

Bioinorganic, Bioorganic, Physical Organic Chemistries, with focuses on characterization of menaquinone metabolism and ihibition of electron transport in tuberculosis bacteria, vanadium containing anti-diabetic and anti-malarial compounds, microemulsion drug-membrane interaction studies, copper (II) amyloid-beta and peptide complexation studies, and spectroscopic techniques including 1D and 2D NMR, EPR, fluorescence and IR.

Organometallic Chemistry, Catalysis, Inorganic Chemistry: The design of new asymmetric catalytic reactions from an electronic structure perspective; Mechanistic investigation of organic transformations catalyzed by open-shell first-row transition metal complexes; Isolation and characterization of reactive organometallic species for small-molecule activation.

Chemical catalysis, nanoparticle research, energy research and kinetics and mechanism

New materials and methodologies involving solid-state and solution-phase reactions, particularly those involving kinetic control. We study structure/property relationships of materials (e.g., magnetism, electrical transport) using advanced synchrotron X-ray and time-of-flight neutron scattering and spectroscopic methods.

Teaching Responsibilities: General Chemistry, Problem Solving in General Chemistry, Introductory Seminar in Chemistry, Honors Seminar: Water Science

Electrochemical synthesis of inorganic bulk and nanoscale materials, low-temperature solid-state chemistry, nanomaterials.

Theoretical characterization of reaction mechanisms in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, new electronic structure techniques, development of force fields or model potentials for chemical reactivity studies.

Coordination and organometallic complex synthesis and characterization: environmental control of spin-crossover properties; single-molecule magnets; solar photochemistry employing earth-abundant materials.