Dr. David L. Patrick has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Patrick received his doctoral degree from the University of Utah under the supervision of Professor Thomas Beebe, Jr. Dr. Patrick will continue research at Cambridge University in Cambridge, England, under the sponsorship of Professor Ian McDonald and additionally Professor Ruth Lynden-Bell of Queen's University in Belfast. His postdoctoral research will target modelling of chemically-specific atomic force microscopy investigations of monolayer films. The research involves a set of computer-based simulation studies designed to improve our understanding of the interactions of a chemically-modified probe tip with adsorbed molecules. The goal is to understand, using molecular dynamics simulations, the respective roles of adsorbate chemical functionality, solvent type, and the chemical structure of a probe tip on the forces measured in atomic force microscopy experiments. The theoretical studies will be augmented by collaboration with experimentalists conducting atomic force microscopy-based studies on mixed monolayer systems. 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.
