Photochemistry Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE)
PURE is a research initiative to provide an immersive year long research experience in photochemistry starting each summer and continuing through the following Fall and Spring semesters. In this combined theory-experiment experience, undergraduates learn scientific computing along with the spectroscopic techniques required to fully explore new photochemical materials. This unique opportunity is focused on real-world problems and students will work in cross-disciplinary teams while contributing to basic discoveries in physical chemistry.
In order to build a clean energy economy, new photochemically-driven reactions are important for efficient solar energy capture and conversion. For the past 50 years, physical chemists, especially spectroscopists and theorists, have built our so-called “chemical intuition” or understanding of how electron and proton transfer reactions occur primarily in the lowest energy states of molecules. However, when driving reactions with light, molecules necessarily become excited. The complex nature of excited states makes them more difficult to predict and understand, and thus we must develop a new chemical intuition for their reactivity. PURE students study cutting edge molecules and materials that harvest solar energy to solve hard chemical problems.
2024-2025
Prof. Fredin, Zach Knepp (4th yr grad), Allen Chen (Physics '25), Sabine Dalais (Engineering '27), Matt Reeves (Chemistry '26), Nabeel Rifai (IDEAS '27), Domenica Fertal (3rd yr grad), Prof. Young
2023-2024
(left) Prof. Fredin, Zach Knepp (3rd yr grad), Zach Groner (Chem '25), Brielle Byerley (Chem '25), Jake Haber (Chem '25), Allen Chen (Physics '25), Domenica Fertal (2nd yr grad), Christian Guzmann (2nd yr grad), Prof. Young (right)
2022-2023
(left) Prof. Fredin, Gabe Masso (Chem '24), Jake Haber (Chem '25), Christian Guzmann (1st yr grad), Zach Knepp (2rd yr grad), Domenica Fertal (1st yr grad), Rachel Joh (Pre-Dent '25), Allen Chen (Physics '25), Prof. Young (right)
2021-2022
(left back) Robert Hamburger (1st year grad), Prof. Young, Alex Forry (Chem '22), Zach Knepp (1st yr grad) (right back)
(left front) Ice Hu (Chem F'20), Athina Jaffer (IDEAS '23), Ing Thongchai (Chem '24), Katie Sorto (ChemE '24), Keira Englehart (Chem '22), Prof. Fredin (right front)
