Faculty

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Arthur Utz

Physical and Surface Chemistry. The Utz group studies how molecules react on surfaces. Reactions at the gas-surface interface are highly dynamical events. Large-scale atomic and vibrational motions transform reactants into products on sub-ps and Å scales. The experiments probe ultrafast nuclear motion and energy flow dynamics that underlie heterogeneous catalysis and chemical vapor deposition. The goal is to to better model existing processes and direct the rational design of new catalytic materials and deposition techniques. The experiments use vibrational- and rotational-state selective laser excitation of molecules in a supersonic molecular beam to provide precise control over the energetics and orientation of the gas-phase reagent as it approaches the surface. Reaction probability and product identity is then quantified as a function of the reagent's energetic configuration. These experiments have shown that the vibrational state of the incident molecule can have a profound effect on reaction probability, and suggest that energy redisribution within the reaction complex is not complete prior to reaction and that the competing kinetics of energy redistribution and reaction might be manipulated to control the outcome of a reaction. This has been subsequently confirmed by exerting bond-elective control over a heterogeneously catalyzed reaction.
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David Valdes

Literature (fiction, drama, nonfiction) on the American Queer and BIPOC experience. Active inclusion. Latine theater and performance.
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Thomas Vandervelde

Interaction of light with matter, physics of nanostructures and interfaces, metamaterials, material science, plasmonics, and surfactants, semiconductor photonics and electronics, epitaxial crystal growth, materials and devices for energy and infrared applications.
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Alexander Vilenkin

Theoretical cosmology I do research on cosmic inflation, dark energy, cosmic strings and monopoles, quantum cosmology, and the multiverse.
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Joseph Walser

Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, religion in early South Asia, Chinese Religions, Anthropology of Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Sociology of Religious Philosophy
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Min Wan

Chinese Language Pedagogy, Second Language Acquisition, Social linguistics, Curriculum design
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Mingquan Wang

Chinese Language, Chinese characters, second language acquisition and pedagogy, and application of technology in language learning and instruction
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Shaomei Wang

Chinese orthography and the Chinese reading process, utilizing approaches applied within a transactional socio-psycholinguistic framework that includes eye movement research and miscue analysis.
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Kristen Wendell

learning sciences, engineering education, design practices, classroom discourse, engineering knowledge construction
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Donald Wertlieb

Clinical aspects of family and child development; pediatric and health psychology; stress and coping
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Ryan Whitney

Professional communication, fieldwork education, professional development of emerging occupational therapists, interprofessional collaboration, complex medical pediatric occupational therapy, community-based practice
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Markus Wilczek

Seventeenth to twenty-first century German literature in its European context; Literature and the Environment, Discourses of Sustainability; Literary and Cultural Theory, Theories of Reading; Intersections of Literature, Science, and Philosophy; Media Studies, Aesthetics of the Human Voice; Post-dramatic Theater; History of Germanistik in the United States 1933-1945
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Jon Witten

Land use planning; local government law; natural resources policy
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Nathan Wolff

Nineteenth-century American literature and culture Affect and emotion Politics of New Materialisms Sex, gender, sexuality Critical Theory Democracy, bureaucracy, populism
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Taritree Wongjirad

My current focus is on measuring the properties of the neutrino, one of the fundamental particles of the Standard Model. We know a few things about the neutrino: it has a very small mass, has no electric charge, comes in three types — or flavors — and interacts only via the weak force and gravity. However, there are many things we do not know. What is the exact mass of the neutrino? And how does it get its mass? Are the three we know about the only kinds that exist? Answers to these questions impact not only our understanding of the fundamental laws of matter but also have consequences for our understanding of how the universe evolved. These and many other questions make the neutrino a fascinating particle. However, as mentioned above, neutrinos interact only via the weak force. They interact so rarely that, at the energies, we typically work with, neutrinos can pass through light-years long block of lead without striking it. This makes neutrino experiments challenging as we need to build massive, building-sized detectors which are instrumented with relatively, low-cost sensors. However, the challenge is often fun, as we are often forced to apply the newest technologies in both hardware and software to design and complete our experiments.