Our group employs ultrafast laser spectroscopy tools to establish relationships between chemical identity, molecular-scale dynamic processes, and macroscale observables with the purpose of directing materials development. Most functional materials operate in the condensed phase and thus experience the presence of nearby molecules; this local environment has substantial effects on their behavior. Our goal is to tailor the molecular environment in order to tune the properties of functional materials.

Dynamic molecular environments span a large range of complexity, and active projects in our group investigate a variety of chemical systems ranging from bimolecular reactive species in solution, to functionalized electrochemical interfaces, and large protein-RNA complexes. To uncover the role of molecular-scale events that can direct the evolution of and be affected by much slower processes (e.g., local solvation and global supramolecular reorganization), we employ laser spectroscopies across the electromagnetic spectrum that can monitor dynamics spanning from sub-picosecond to minutes.