Dr. Sandra J. Rosenthal has been awarded a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Rosenthal's doctoral degree was from the University of Chicago under the supervision of Professor Graham Fleming. Dr. Rosenthal will continue research at the University of California/Berkeley under the sponsorship of Professors Charles Shank and Richard Mathies. Dr. Rosenthal's postdoctoral training will study the role of vibrational and electronic coherence in nonlinear optical phenomena and the photoisomerization of rhodopsin, using ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy and theory. Longer term she plans to study the mechanism and timescale of electronic dephasing processes and investigate the formation and relaxation of biexcitons in semiconducting nanoclusters. The information gained from these studies will lead to an understanding of exciton relaxation and the origin of nonlinear susceptibility, provide a blueprint to tailor the optical properties of new systems and, and initiate the use of semiconducting nanoclusters in the field of molecular electronics. %%% The Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Chemistry Program is viewed as an important infrastructural program designed to broaden the knowledge and experience of recent Ph.D.s and attract them into meaningful careers in contemporary chemical research and teaching.
