Dr. Diana M. Watkins has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Watkins received her doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Professor Marye Anne Fox. Dr. Watkins will continue research at Columbia University under the sponsorship of Professor Nicholas Turro. Her postdoctoral research will focus on the investigation of host-guest interactions between noncovalently bound donors and acceptors on a series of dendrimer macromolecules. The studies will examine rates of electron transfer and binding affinities under a variety of conditions. Transient laser spectroscopy will be used in the studies of the electron transfer mechanisms and surface binding characteristics. Knowledge of these systems will contribute to the long-range goal of design of a macromolecular system which can build up multiple long-lived charges on a single array to catalyze multielectron reactions using light. 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.
