Dr. David A. Vanden Bout has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Vanden Bout received his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Professor Mark Berg. Dr. Vanden Bout will continue research at the University of Minnesota under the sponsorship of Professor Paul Barbara. His postdoctoral research will target the study of energy transport in dye aggregates using near-field scanning optical microspectroscopy (NSOM). Experiments will combine nanometer spatial resolution with femtosecond time resolution. New techniques to be developed for the NSOM apparatus include spatial/spectral holeburning, time-resolved lifetime measurements, spatially resolved pump-probe spectroscopies, and temperature dependant studies. Such forefront spectroscopic techniques advance our understanding of the electronic and optical properties of novel materials. The Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Chemistry Program is viewed as an important infrastructural program designed to broaden the knowledge and experience of new Ph. D.s and attract them into meaningful careers in contemporary chemical research and teaching.
