Dr. Randal A. Seburg has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Seburg received the doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison under the supervision of Professor Robert J. McMahon. Dr. Seburg will continue research at Purdue University under the sponsorship of Professor Robert R. Squires. The postdoctoral research will focus on the investigation of reactive intermediates using a flowing afterglow apparatus equipped with a triple-qualrupole mass analyzer. Such gas phase investigations probe the intrinsic properties of molecules, providing data that is free of solvent and counter-ion effects and directly relevant for comparison with theory. Studies include the thermochemistry of carbynes using both theoretical computations and experimental results, as well as the gas phase reactions of charged biomolecules such as oligopeptides and oligonucleotides generated using the electrospray ion technique. 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.
