In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Robin Hochstrasser of the University of Pennsylvania, together with his post-doctoral fellows, graduate, and undergraduate students, will develop dual-frequency, two-dimensional infrared spectroscopic methods to investigate the correlated molecular motions of solvated molecules, molecular ions and their associated water molecules. The results from these experiments will shed light on how liquid water behaves, at the molecular level -- an important fundamental question that has profound implications in a number of fields, wherever water is the solvent.
Besides the broader scientific impact of the research outlined above, the young researchers working with Prof. Hochstrasser receive outstanding training in cutting-edge non-linear optical methods applied to a broad array of problems -- from fundamental physical chemistry to biology. Many Hochstrasser alumni may be found at major research universities across the country and around the world.
