Brief Biography - I am a graduate student in the Inorganic Division of the UNM Chemistry Department where I work in Dr. Martin L. Kirk’s lab. I obtained my undergraduate degrees in both Biology and Chemistry at the University of New Mexico. In my future career I hope to be involved in research projects in the field of nanoscience that would allow me to integrate and use my knowledge in the fields of chemistry, biology, and physics, and that would be interesting and exciting to me.
Reserach Interest Description- Our general interest in the field of nanoscience lies in understanding electronic structure contributions to the function of molecular electronic devices, in particular molecular wires. My research project involves studying donor-bridge-acceptor biradicals as models for molecular wires, where fast and efficient electron transfer through the wire depends on the electronic coupling between the donor and acceptor. We evaluate electronic coupling between donor and acceptor units as a function of the bridge fragment by various spectroscopic including EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance), MCD (magnetic circular dichroism), and electronic absorption spectroscopy as well as computational methods (density functional theory) in order to identify those bridges suitable for applications in molecular wires.
