Stanford University
Showing 601-700 of 1,592 Results
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Suman Patra
Postdoctoral Scholar, Chemistry
BioDr. Suman Patra is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University, working under the mentorship of Prof. Edward I. Solomon. His research focuses on uncovering the mechanistic intricacies of non-coupled binuclear copper (NBC) enzymes, particularly tyramine β-monooxygenase (TBM), which catalyzes oxygen activation and selective C–H bond hydroxylation.His work integrates high-resolution spectroscopy, transient kinetics, and protein biochemistry to probe the formation, structure, and reactivity of short-lived copper-oxygen intermediates. As part of this effort, he performs cell culture and protein purification, enabling the isolation of active, recombinant copper enzymes for detailed spectroscopic and mechanistic studies. Through a multi-spectroscopic approach, primarily UV-Vis, CD, MCD, EXAFS, EPR, resonance Raman, and stopped-flow absorption spectroscopy, he investigates how the geometric and electronic structure of the active sites modulate reactivity and enable O₂ activation without direct Cu–Cu coupling.
Dr. Patra earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, under the supervision of Prof. Abhishek Dey, where he developed iron porphyrin-based electrocatalysts for the selective reduction of CO₂. His research emphasized mechanistic analysis using electrochemical methods coupled with in situ spectro-electrochemistry to monitor redox transitions and catalytic intermediates under applied potentials. These studies were complemented by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which he used to model key intermediates, protonation pathways, and redox energetics, thereby providing molecular-level insight into how second-sphere interactions and ligand environments influence catalytic behaviour. His integrative experimental–computational approach provided a detailed understanding of structure-function relationships in multi-electron CO₂ reduction.
The mechanistic perspective and technical skillset developed during his doctoral work, particularly in combining spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and computation, now form the foundation of his postdoctoral research. His current studies extend those same principles to more complex metalloenzyme systems, addressing similar core questions about the role of electronic structure, metal-ligand coordination, and local environment in controlling reactivity. His long-term goal is to bridge synthetic and biological catalysis through a mechanistic lens, contributing to the development of efficient, selective systems for small-molecule activation and sustainable energy transformations.
Dr. Patra received his M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati after qualifying the national IIT-JAM examination and completed his B.Sc. in Chemistry at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Over the course of his academic training, he has cultivated a multidisciplinary research identity that spans coordination chemistry, spectroscopy, electrochemical catalysis, and theoretical modelling. His scientific vision centres on using spectroscopic and computational insight to guide the rational design of catalysts for environmentally relevant redox chemistry. -
Ann Patterson
Policy Scholar, Woods Institute
BioAnn Patterson is a policy scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Sustainability Accelerator at the Doerr School for Sustainability, where she focuses on issues related to climate and energy.
She recently served as Senior Counselor for California Governor Gavin Newsom, where she advised the Governor regarding the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and emerging energy-sector and insurance issues. She also advised the Governor on policy solutions to stabilize the state’s electric utilities in the wake of the catastrophic 2025 fires, which resulted in enactment of Senate Bill 254 (Becker, 2025). Patterson’s experience led to a focus on the wide-ranging societal and economic consequences of catastrophic wildfires in California and the implications for insurance accessibility and energy affordability.
Until March of 2025, Patterson served as Cabinet Secretary for Governor Newsom, where she oversaw the work of all state agencies and departments within the administration as well as development of the state budget. Prior to her appointment as Cabinet Secretary, Ann served as Governor Newsom’s Legal Affairs Secretary, providing legal advice and counsel to the Governor and the Governor’s office, as well as overseeing litigation to which the Governor or the State of California was a party. She also served as legal counsel to the Governor’s energy team, formed to stabilize the state’s utility sector in the wake of PG&E’s 2019 bankruptcy filing.
Prior to joining the Newsom Administration, Ann was a partner in the law firm of Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe, where she practiced from 2005 until 2018. -
Rylan Fukushima Patty
Affiliate, SAL Digital Learning
Biohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rylan-patty2028/
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Margot Paul
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Paul is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her undergraduate degree from Tulane University where she graduated magna cum laude with departmental honors in psychology. She then received a master of science degree in behavioral health psychology the following year, after partaking in the 4+1 master's program. She graduated with her doctor of psychology degree from the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, where she won the award for Outstanding Overall Student (2021). She completed her clinical psychology doctoral internship at the Sepulveda VA in Los Angeles and her postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine.
During her postdoctoral year she continued her research on using virtual reality (VR) as a method of engaging in behavioral activation for individuals with depression. Dr. Paul began her VR work in 2017 after joining Dr. Kim Bullock’s Virtual Reality-Immersive Technology Clinic & Laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Paul won the Cheryl Koopman Dissertation of the Year Award for designing and implementing a feasibility study and three-arm pilot randomized controlled trial to examine the feasibility of using a VR headset as a way to administer behavioral activation therapy for participants with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. She presented her past and ongoing research findings as a speaker at Shift Medical 2021: Virtual Medical XR Congress and Expo (2021), Stanford Psychiatry Grand Rounds (2022), IVRHA’s 7th Annual Virtual Reality and Healthcare Global Symposium (2023), VMed23 (2023), ADAA (2023), and CYPSY26 (2023). Dr. Paul has worked and consulted with VR companies and local Bay Area startups in the technology and mental health space. She has published on her virtual reality work.
Clinically, she is interested in working with adults with anxiety and mood disorders, interpersonal difficulties, health-related difficulties, and/or perfectionistic tendencies. Dr. Paul has experience working with high-performance individuals, such as healthcare providers and student athletes. She practices using predominantly cognitive behavioral and dialectical behavioral therapies, but integrates various skills depending on the presentation and need of each unique individual. -
Ria Paul
Clinical Associate Professor, Medicine - Primary Care and Population Health
BioClinical Focus
.Internal Medicine
.Geriatric Medicine
.Wellness
.Focus on Health Disparities in Elderly Population -
Leonardo Paulo Guimaraes De Assis
Contingent Mathematics Instructor, Contingent
Staff, Stanford Pre-Collegiate StudiesBioLeonardo P. G. De Assis is a theoretical physicist. He currently holds a lecturer position at School of Humanities and Liberal Studies, San Francisco State University and also as instructor at Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies.
With nine years at Stanford, he was Lecturer at Department of Philosophy (2018), a Research Associate (2015-2018), and Visiting Scholar (2013-2015) at the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Lecturer at Symbolic Systems Program since 2018, and instructor at Stanford Continuing Studies .
He received his Bachelors degree in mathematics from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and he has Master and PhD degrees in Physics from Brazilian Center for Research in Physics, Brazil, with publication in nonlinear dynamics, quantum field theory, nuclear physics, atomic physics, cosmology, physics of plasmas and quantum-like formalism applied to cognition.
He also has an interest in Quantum Computing, Quantum Information, Neurophysics, and Artificial Consciousness.
He is currently employing techniques from dynamical systems, and field theory to model the so-called "Neural Binding Problem". That is an open problem of great interest to Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Mind. -
Arogyaswami Paulraj
Professor (Research) of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus
BioProf. Arogyaswami Paulraj is an Emeritus Professor at Stanford University. Paulraj's legacy is deeply intertwined with the evolution of wireless communication. His groundbreaking work on MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology laid the foundation for today's ubiquitous 4G/5G networks and high-speed Wi-Fi.
Paulraj's journey began in the Indian Navy, where he served from 1965 to 1991. During this time, he led the development of the APSOH anti-submarine sonar system and established three key R&D labs for the Indian government. His contributions earned him the prestigious Padma Bhushan award, India's third highest civilian honor.
Following his naval career, Paulraj joined Stanford University as a postdoctoral researcher. His research focus shifted to wireless communication, where he made groundbreaking contributions to MIMO technology. MIMO enables data transmission using multiple antennas, significantly increasing network capacity and data rates.
Paulraj's innovation has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the 2024 Royal Acad. Eng. Prince Philip Medal, the 2023 IET Faraday Medal, the 2014 Marconi Prize, and the 2011 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal. He is also a fellow of nine national academies in engineering, sciences, and the arts, and an inductee of the US Patent Office’s National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Currently, Paulraj continues to contribute to technological advancement. He chairs several committees for the Government of India, focusing on the Indian Semiconductor Mission and Core ICT initiatives. His dedication to research and development continues to shape the future of wireless communication. -
Selvi R. Paulraj, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor (Affiliated), Adult Neurology
BioDr. Selvi R. Paulraj is a fellowship-trained neuropsychologist at Stanford Health Care. She is also a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Paulraj specializes in assessing a variety of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease. She also conducts presurgical neuropsychological evaluations for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease and surgical interventions for epilepsy.
Dr. Paulraj’s research focuses on mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques to improve aging and stroke recovery. She also explores emotional and psychosocial factors that impact health in patients with multiple sclerosis and dementia, along with patient caregivers.
Dr. Paulraj has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Clinical Gerontologist, Journal of Neurolinguistics, and Frontiers in Psychology. She has also presented to peers at regional, national, and international meetings, including annual meetings of the American Psychological Association (APA), National Academy for Neuropsychology, and American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN). -
John M. Pauly
Reid Weaver Dennis Professor
BioInterests include medical imaging generally, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in particular. Current efforts are focused on medical applications of MRI where real-time interactive imaging is important. Two examples are cardiac imaging, and the interactive guidance of interventional procedures. Specific interests include rapid methods for the excitation and acquisition of the MR signal, and the reconstruction of images from the data acquired using these approaches.
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Kim Butts Pauly
Professor of Radiology (Radiological Sciences Lab) and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe are investigating and developing, and applying focused ultrasound in neuromodulation, blood brain barrier opening, and ablation for both neuro and body applications.
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Juan N. Pava
Master of Arts Student in International Policy, admitted Autumn 2026
Summer 2026 TECH 50 H Course Support Specialist, Continuing Studies
Research Assistant, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)BioJuan N. Pava is a Research Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), where his work focuses on AI governance, digital inclusion, and the political economy of emerging technologies, particularly in the Global South. His research examines how institutions can more equitably govern technological development, with current projects spanning low-resource languages, language digitization, AI sovereignty, and accessibility.
At Stanford HAI, Juan has contributed to research and institutional initiatives at the intersection of technology and social impact, including educational programming for civil society leaders and collaborative projects on inclusive AI development. He is also a Research Assistant at Stanford’s Human Trafficking Data Lab, where he co-authors research on legal and statistical frameworks surrounding labor exploitation and human trafficking.
Juan holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from New York University and will begin the Master’s in International Policy program at Stanford University in 2026. Born and raised in Colombia, his broader interests lie in political economy, international development, and the application of normative political theory to institutional design and governance. -
Suraj Pavagada
Postdoctoral Scholar, Radiology
BioSuraj Pavagada is a postdoctoral scholar at the Department of Radiology at Stanford University. His research focuses on exploiting magnetic levitation and optoelectronic techniques for applications in medical diagnostics.
Suraj received his PhD in Oncology from the University of Cambridge (24’), where he developed a new bioelectronic cell enrichment platform utilizing altered glycosylation patterns for the early detection of esophageal cancer. With a background in electrochemistry, surface functionalization, liquid biopsy, and molecular diagnostics, he is passionate about developing portable sensor technologies that can be translated into the clinic to facilitate timely diagnosis and monitoring. -
Marco Pavone
Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering & of Computer Science
BioDr. Marco Pavone is an Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, where he directs the Autonomous Systems Laboratory and the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford. He is also a Distinguished Research Scientist at NVIDIA where he leads autonomous vehicle research. Before joining Stanford, he was a Research Technologist within the Robotics Section at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010. His main research interests are in the development of methodologies for the analysis, design, and control of autonomous systems, with an emphasis on self-driving cars, autonomous aerospace vehicles, and future mobility systems. He is a recipient of a number of awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, a National Science Foundation Early Career (CAREER) Award, a NASA Early Career Faculty Award, and an Early-Career Spotlight Award from the Robotics Science and Systems Foundation. He was identified by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) as one of America's 20 most highly promising investigators under the age of 40. His work has been recognized with best paper nominations or awards at a number of venues, including the European Conference on Computer Vision, the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the European Control Conference, the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, the Field and Service Robotics Conference, the Robotics: Science and Systems Conference, and the INFORMS Annual Meeting.
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William Paxton
Affiliate, Mechanical Engineering
Visiting Scholar, Mechanical Engineering - DesignBioWilliam A. Paxton is a Visiting Scholar in the Quantum Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, hosted by Professor Fritz B. Prinz. He concurrently serves as Senior Staff Scientist and Project Lead at Volkswagen Group of America’s Innovation and Engineering Center California in Belmont, California where he works on energy storage, electric vehicle, and sustainability topics.
Prior to Volkswagen, Paxton spent six years at Ford Motor Company; first as a Energy Storage Materials Research Engineer in Energy Storage in Dearborn, Michigan and then as Technology Scout and Project Lead for Battery and Charging at Ford’s Research and Innovation Center in Palo Alto, California.
William holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Rutgers University, is named inventor on six US patents, and his peer-reviewed work has been cited more than 1,700 times.
At Stanford, his research interest is on next-generation energy-storage devices for mobility applications. -
Christopher K. Payne, MD
Professor of Urology at the Stanford University Medical Center, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsObstetric Fistula Projects:
1. Preoperative ultrasound evaluation to detect ureteric involvement in vesicovaginal fistulas
2. Patient narrative study to identify key medical, social and economic factors that lead to fistula formation
3. Study of urinary continence after fistula repair
Pelvic pain: investigation into role of pelvic floor in chronic pelvic pain -
Jevan Payne
Finance Manager, Office of Technology Licensing (OTL)
BioJevan is responsible for financial and other system reports and data analytics across the board. Jevan is also responsible for different control and quality checks of the data in 4D.
Prior to joining Stanford as a Financial Data Analyst, Jevan studied Business Management; specializing in Economics. He has previously served in the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and worked in IT at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. -
Jonathan Payne
Dorrell William Kirby Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy goal in research is to understand the interaction between environmental change and biological evolution using fossils and the sedimentary rock record. How does environmental change influence evolutionary and ecological processes? And conversely, how do evolutionary and ecological changes affect the physical environment? I work primarily on the marine fossil record over the past 550 million years.
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Susan Payrovi
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
BioDr. Payrovi is a physician practicing Integrative and Functional Medicine at Stanford’s Center for Integrative Medicine. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at UCLA and completed her medical education at UC San Diego in 2003. She completed a residency in Anesthesiology at USC in 2007. Dr. Payrovi is board certified in Anesthesiology, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, as well as Integrative Medicine. She has additional training in Functional Medicine and acupuncture.
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Lorenzo Pazienza
Undergraduate, Continuing Studies and Summer Session
BioUndergraduate student in Management and Artificial Intelligence at LUISS Guido Carli University and Visiting Student at Stanford University.
At Stanford, I am taking Machine Learning, Convex Optimization I, and High-Performance Computing & AI Systems, strengthening my focus on machine learning, optimization, scalable computation, and AI systems.
My work focuses on applied AI systems, semantic retrieval, graph-based analytics, and full-stack AI application development. I am interested in building AI systems that combine models, optimization methods, data pipelines, retrieval architectures, backend infrastructure, evaluation methods, and real-world deployment constraints.
My project experience includes financial risk modeling, topology-aware semantic retrieval, graph and spectral methods, and applied AI evaluation workflows.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzo-pazienza/
Github: https://github.com/lorenzopazienza -
Roy Pea
Director, H-STAR, David Jacks Professor of Education and Professor, by courtesy, of Computer Science
Current Research and Scholarly Interestslearning sciences focus on advancing theories, research, tools and social practices of technology-enhanced learning of complex domains
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Antonia Michelle Rosen Peacocke
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
BioAntonia Peacocke works on philosophy of action, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and aesthetics, including philosophy of literature. As of December 2025, her monograph Mental Means is forthcoming with Oxford University Press. Before coming to Stanford, she was a Bersoff Faculty Fellow in the Philosophy Department at New York University. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018.
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Nolan Peard
Ph.D. Student in Applied Physics, admitted Autumn 2020
BioNolan is currently a PhD candidate in the Schleier-Smith Lab in the Department of Physics. He specializes in atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics, chemical physics, and materials science with a developing interest in bioengineering. Beyond his research career, Nolan is an accomplished cellist and is interested in climbing, reading, and nature.
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Ronald Pearl
Dr. Richard K. and Erika N. Richards Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMechanims (molecular and cellular) of pulmonary hypertension, treatment of pulmonary hypertension, treatment of respiratory failure, treatment of septic shock, hemodynamic monitoring
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Francis Pearman
Assistant Professor of Education
BioFrancis A. Pearman is an Assistant Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. His research focuses on how poverty and inequality shape the life chances of children, especially in rapidly changing cities. Pearman holds a Ph.D. and M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University and a B.S. from the University of Virginia.
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Scott Pearson
Professor at the Food Research Institute, Emeritus
BioScott Pearson taught economic development and international trade in the Food Research Institute. Pearson came to Stanford in 1968 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1974 and to Professor in 1980. He served as the Food Research Institute’s Associate Director (1977-1984) and Director (1992-1996). Pearson became Professor Emeritus in 2002. In retirement, Pearson has lectured on 67 travel/study programs for the Stanford Alumni Association and 121 educational travel trips in total, visiting all seven continents.
Pearson grew up in Baraboo, Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in American history in 1961. Between 1961 and 1963, he was one of the first Peace Corps Volunteers – serving as a secondary school teacher in Northern Nigeria. Pearson’s marriage to Sandra Anderson in Lagos, Nigeria in 1962 was the first wedding in the Peace Corps.
Pearson decided to pursue a career in academia, specializing in international development. He spent one year in Bologna, Italy and another in Washington, D.C. to earn a Master of Arts degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1965. Pearson then earned a doctorate in economics at Harvard University in 1968. He wrote his dissertation on the impact of petroleum exports on Nigerian development under the direction of Albert Hirschman and revised his thesis for his first book, Petroleum and the Nigerian Economy (Stanford University Press, 1970).
Pearson began his empirical research in Nigeria (1961-69) and Ghana (1970-78). He later focused on Indonesia (1979-2004), Portugal (1981-95), and Kenya (1986-96). Pearson’s professional work abroad combined research (in collaboration with local university or government researchers), teaching (of short courses to transfer methods of field research and analysis), and policy analysis (to provide policy advice to government officials).
During most years, Pearson taught during two Stanford quarters and spent five months working abroad. In 1978, Pearson received the Dean’s Award for Teaching in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences.
Pearson’s research focused on food and agricultural policy analysis, especially links among price, macroeconomic, and investment policies. He also worked on food price stabilization, trade and exchange rate policies, and social benefit-cost analysis. Wally Falcon, Peter Timmer, and Pearson collaborated for many years in Indonesia and co-authored Food Policy Analysis (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), which received the Award for Professional Excellence, Quality of Communication in 1984 from the American Agricultural Economics Association and was translated into five languages.
In 1982, Eric Monke and Pearson began developing the Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) approach to integrate policy and project analysis. PAM is a marriage of benefit-cost analysis and economic policy analysis in a matrix framework. Monke and Pearson explained the PAM approach in The Policy Analysis Matrix for Agricultural Development (Cornell University Press, 1989). Most of the 12 books that Pearson co-authored are applications of the PAM. Pearson presented PAM short-courses in China, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Thailand, Washington (the World Bank), and Zimbabwe.
Pearson was a member of numerous university committees and served on the Board of Trustees Committee on Finance and Administration and the Faculty Senate. Pearson and his wife, Sandra, were Faculty Residents in undergraduate dormitories at Stanford for five years (Serra House, 1968-1969 and 1977-1978, Madera House, 1978-1980, and Potter House, 1983-1984). Sandra Pearson later served as Principal of Palo Alto High School (1987-1994 and 2002-2004), and in 2004 she won the Tall Tree Award, sponsored by the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and the Palo Alto Weekly. -
Kabir Peay
Senior Associate Dean for Education, Director of the Earth Systems Program, Professor of Biology, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab studies the ecological processes that structure natural communities and the links between community structure and the cycling of nutrients and energy through ecosystems. We focus primarily on fungi, as these organisms are incredibly diverse and are the primary agents of carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. By working across multiple scales we hope to build a 'roots-to-biomes' understanding of plant-microbe symbiosis.
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John R Peck
Casual - Other Teaching Staff, Continuing Studies
BioJohn Peck teaches portrait and figure drawing for Stanford Continuing Studies.
His paintings and drawings can be seen in private collections and galleries in London, Florence, Dublin, and Santa Fe. He graduated from the Florence Academy of Art and received an MArch from the University of New Mexico, where he was an instructor in the School of Architecture and Planning. He is the co-author of “Drawing in Space: A Manual for Figurative Sculpture.”
His work can be viewed at www.johnpeck.com -
Sadia Peck
Affiliate, Central Mgmt-Misc AR
BioSadia Peck is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthestist at Stanford Health Care. She graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from California State University, Fullerton/ Kaiser Permanente School of Anesthesia. Prior to obtaining her MSN, she obtained both her Masters in Health Administration and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Florida Atlantic University. She also has a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Florida. Her area of specialization is Anesthesia, providing high-quality and compassionate anesthesia care to adult peri-operative patients.
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Robert Pecora
Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe development of the basic principles behind the dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique and its application to a wide variety of liquid systems is one of Pecora's outstanding contributions to physical chemistry. DLS is now an indispensable tool in the repertoire of polymer, colloid and biophysical chemists. It is generally accepted to be one of the best methods for measuring the mutual diffusion coefficients and, in dilute systems, the hydrodynamic sizes of polymers and particulates in solution or suspension. It is widely used, among other things, for studying size distributions of polymer and colloid dispersions; for testing theories of polymer dynamics in dilute and concentrated systems; and for studying interactions between macromolecules and colloidal particles in liquid dispersions. The basic work that established the foundation of this technique was done in the 1960s. Pecora has revisited this area over the years-formulating theories, for instance, of scattering from hollow spheres, large cylindrically symmetric molecules and wormlike chains.
An experimental program began in the early seventies resulted in a now classic series of studies on the rotational dynamics of small molecules in liquids. This work, utilizing mainly depolarized DLS and carbon 13 nuclear magnetic relaxation, has had a wide impact in the area of liquid state dynamics.
It was also during this period that the theoretical foundation for the fluorescence correlation spectroscopy technique (FCS) was formulated. Because of recent advances in equipment and materials, this technique has recently been revived and is now a powerful tool in biophysics.
The experimental and theoretical techniques developed for the study of the dynamics of relatively simple small molecule liquids have been used to investigate more complex systems such as the rotation of small molecule solvents in glassy and amorphous polymers. The resonance- enhanced depolarized light scattering technique was also developed in this period.
Extensive studies using depolarized dynamic light scattering (using the Fabry-Perot interferometer) as well as photon correlation spectroscopy, NMR, FCS and small angle X-ray scattering to the dynamics of oligonucleotides have determined the hydrodynamic diameter of DNA and the internal bending angles of the bases. They also provided support for relations relating hydrodynamic parameters to molecular dimensions for short rodlike molecules and “polyelectrolyte effects” on the translational and rotational motions of these highly charged molecules.
A major area of experimental and theoretical study has been the study of the dynamics of rigid and semirigid rodlike polymers in both dilute and semidilute dispersions. The work on translation and rotation of poly (-benzyl-L-glutamate) in semidilute solution is a foremost early work in this area.
The Pecora group has synthesized and studied the dynamics of model
rigid rod/sphere composite liquids. Studies of the translation of dilute spheres through solutions of the rods as functions of the rod and sphere sizes and the rod concentrations have provided the stimulus for more experiment and theoretical work in this area. Transient electric birefringence decay studies of the rotation of dilute rigid rod polymers in suspensions of comparably sized spherical particles have revealed scaling laws for the rod rotation.
A unique feature of part of this work on rigid and semirigid rodlike polymers is the utilization of genetic engineering techniques to construct a monodisperse, homologous series of DNA restriction fragments. These biologically-produced fragments have served as well-characterized model macromolecules for solution studies of the dynamics of semirigid rodlike polymers.
The well-regarded book of Pecora and Berne on dynamic light scattering, first published in 1976, has become a major reference work. It is now a Dover paperback.
