Artemis II Mission Has UGA Chemistry Connection

Since the April 1 launch, four NASA astronauts have been aboard the Orion spacecraft, nicknamed Integrity, rigorously testing its integrated systems during the mission. Every breath onboard is carefully monitored by a compact device called the anomaly gas analyzer. At the heart of this system is a laser spectroscopy instrument created by Jeff Pilgrim, a UGA Department of Chemistry alumnus who built his career around the idea that lasers can “read” the air. 

Spatial Metabolomics Through Desorption Electrospray Ionization Cyclic Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Spatial Metabolomics with the advancement of Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) techniques has been increasingly employed in omics research for detecting metabolites, lipids, and small molecules in tissue.1 Unlike bulk metabolomics that detects metabolites in homogenized samples, spatial metabolomics provides insights to tissue heterogeneity, metabolic microenvironments, and localized biochemical processes while preserving anatomical context.2 Among MSI based spatial metabolomics methods, Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrom
Type of Event:
Analytical Seminar

2026 Chemistry Alumni Lecture:
Accelerated Microdroplets Reactions: Mechanism and Applications in Materials and Organic Synthesis

Two publications from this lab, in 2011 and 2012, used mass spectrometry to show that the rates of reactions in microdroplets are accelerated by many orders of magnitude. These experiments used ordinary organic solvents and demonstrated that acceleration occurs at the solution/air interface.  These observations were then extended to a range of classical organic reactions. The Zare group showed reaction acceleration in aqueous microdroplets, for oxidation and other reactions.  

Type of Event:
Departmental Colloquium
Analytical Seminar
Special Seminar

Hydrocarbons and Triplet Oxygen Radicals in Helium Nanodroplets - Generation from Precursors and High Resolution IR Spectroscopy

Helium Nanodroplet Isolation Spectroscopy (HENDI) is an excellent method for probing molecules and reaction systems effectively due to the unique characteristics it possesses such as superfluidity below a threshold temperature, optical transparency and weak interaction strength. The ultra-low temperature of this experiment also helps with the study of reactive species as low activation barriers remain thermally inaccessible.
Type of Event:
Physical Seminar

Navigating the Mechanistic Controversy of Frustrated Lewis Pairs

Since its first discovery in 2006, Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs) have attracted widespread attention for their ability to activate small molecules without transition metals. However, the exact mechanism of this activation remains a subject of debate. This seminar compares the two mechanistic models (the electron transfer (ET) and electric field (EF) models) and investigates the underlying physics governing these systems.

Type of Event:
Physical Seminar
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