The Grassian group focuses on the chemistry and impacts of environmental interfaces including atmospheric aerosols, aqueous microdroplets, engineered and geochemical nanomaterials, and indoor surfaces.
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WELCOME TO THE GRASSIAN
WELCOME TO THE GRASSIAN
GROUP WEBSITE!
GROUP WEBSITE!
This website provides an overview of the diverse research areas explored in the Grassian laboratory, along with the state-of-the-art techniques we employ. Broadly, our work centers on molecular-level laboratory studies aimed at advancing the understanding of complex environmental interfaces. Current projects span a range of topics, including the heterogeneous chemistry of trace gases—both organic and inorganic—with atmospheric particulate matter such as mineral dust and sea spray; interfacial chemistry within aqueous microdroplets and thin water films; the dissolution, mobilization, and multiphase chemistry of iron-containing particles and transition metal ions; sulfur oxidation in aqueous aerosols; multiphase and photochemistry of nitrogen oxides, particularly pathways leading to HONO formation in both indoor and outdoor environments; surface chemistry of geochemical nanoparticles and their interactions with biological molecules such as eDNA and proteins; links between particulate matter and human health; and the environmental and health-related applications and implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology. If you have questions about our research as you explore the site, please feel free to contact any of our group members.
News
News
2025
June 6 - Congratulations to Adriane on passing her 3rd-year exam!
June 5 - Congratulations to Patiemma, co-advised student (w/Amaro lab), for passing her 3rd-year exam!
April 15 - Prof. Vicki Grassian has been selected to receive the 2025 Marsha I. Lester Award for Exemplary Impact in Physical Chemistry. The award will be presented at the PHYS Award Symposium ACS Fall 2025 meeting in Washington, DC (August 17-21, 2025).
March 23 - The Grassian group is at ACS this week, presenting five oral presentations and four poster presentations at the ACS meeting in the San Diego Convention Center spanning four different divisions - PHYS, ENV, COLL, & GEO - in the SD Convention Center and the Marriot hotel. Good luck and congratulations to all of the presenters!
March 12 - Congratulations to Justin for receiving the 2024-2025 Physical Sciences Dean's Undergraduate Award for Excellence - way to go Justin!
March 10 - Dr. Eshani Hettiarchchi recieved an early career travel award from the Division of Geochemistry to present her work on the interactions of environmental DNA with mineral surfaces. Congratulations Eshani!
March 7 - Karla was selected to present at the Graduate Student Research Symposium to discuss her research on the impacts of wildfires on HONO formation in the troposphere.
March 6 - Vanessa passed her second year departmental exam - great job Vanessa!
January 30 - The Grassian group welcomes Iris Yourick to the group as a first year graduate student!
January 9 - Dr. Hind Al-Abadleh, former Grassian group member, Ph.D. 2003, was an extraordinary chemist and we celebrate her and her many contributions to the field of interfacial environmental chemistry. https://wlu.ca/news/spotlights/2025/jan/laurier-mourns-the-passing-of-hind-al-abadleh.html , https://cen.acs.org/people/obituaries/Obituary-Hind-Al-Abadleh/103/web/2025/02
2024
November 22 - Congratulations to Dr. Cholaphan Deeleepojanan for successfully defending her Ph.D. dissertation!
October 31 - Congratulations to Karla for passing her Third Year Exam!
October 4 - Congratulations to all of the Grassian group members who presented their work (poster presentations) at the IGASP Symposium at UC San Diego!
October 1 - Welcome Tarun Roy, a new postdoctoral scientist!
September 22 - Congratulations to Eshani Hettiarachchi who presented her work on eDNA structure and reactivity at the water-mineral interface (oral - invited) at the GSA Annual Meeting in Anaheim, CA!
September 3 - Welcome postdoctoral scientist Wen Zhang to the Grassian group!
July 6 - Congratulations to all of the Grassian group members who presented their work at the Indoor Air 2024 Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii!
July 1 - Welcome Bryce Elsner, a new graduate student!
June 24 - Welcome summer undergraduate researchers Abril Daniela Montaño Medina and Aida Guadalupe Velasco Ortiz from the ENLACE program!
June 15 - Congratulations to all Grassian group 2024 graduating seniors - Alicia, Pazinah and Siena - along with former group members Manal and Samantha! We are very proud of you and all of your extraordinary accomplishments!!!
April 1 –Congratulations Pazinah Bhadha on receiving a TRELS Award for Spring quarter.
March 31 –Grassian group is excited to have undergraduate students Justin Wang, Alicia Krueger, Siena Quinn, Dylan Schmidt and Pazinah Bhadha to continue research in the Spring 2024 quarter.
March 13 - Congratulations to Hannah Castro for passing the Second Year Exam!
February 29 - Congratulations to Adriane Tam for passing the Second Year Exam!
January 28 - Congratulations to Prof. Vicki Grassian for being selected to receive 2024 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award. The award reception and symposium will be held on Feb 25th and 26th, respectively, at Pittcon 2024 in San Diego Convention Center!!
January 23 - Welcome graduate students Jenille Cruz, Vanessa Valdez, and Benjamin Dao to the Grassian group , we are excited to have you join!
2023
December 4 - Congratulations Dr. Stephanie Mora Garcia for successfully defending her PhD !!
September 25 - Welcome Jennie Lee, a new graduate student!
September 1 - Welcome Kedong Gong, a new postdoctoral scientist!
August 17 - Congratulations to all of the Grassian group members who presented their work (oral and poster presentations) at the ACS meeting in San Francisco!
August 10 - Audrey and Anne did a great job in presenting their posters at the CAICE summer poster session.
July 26 - Congratulations to Dr. Deborah Kim for defending her Ph.D. dissertation!! We wish Deborah good luck in her new job!
June 24 - Welcome new summer undergraduate students Anne and Audrey who join a large number of summer undergraduate researchers in the Grassian group including Samantha, Viet, Alicia, Manal and Justin.
June 24 - Welcome to Jenille Cruz - incoming first year graduate student!
June 15 - Congratulations Jinxu Zhou on graduating with a B.S. degree in Nanoengineering. Jinxu will stay on as a M.S. student in the Materials Science and Engineering program!
May 8 - Congratulations Justin on receiving the Dean's Undergraduate Summer Research Award!
April 12 - Welcome Hannah Castro, a first year graduate student!
April 1 - Congratulations Karla on receiving the prestige NSF-GRFP!
February 22 - Welcome graduate student Adriane Tam to the Grassian group!!
February 8 - Grassian group welcomes Alicia to the group!
February 8 - Congratulations to Karla on passing her 2nd year exam!!
January 10 - Welcome to undergraduate student Viet!
January 9 - Jane passed her second year exam! Congratulations Jane!!
2022
December 2 - Congratulations to Deb for being awarded the department's 2022-2023 Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship!
December 2 - Congratulations to Dr. Kyle Angle on successfully defending his Ph.D. thesis!!!
November 23 - Cholaphan passes her candidacy exam – great job Cholaphan!
November 18 - Izaac Sit successfully defends his Ph.D. dissertation – congratulations Dr. Sit!!!
September 20 - Welcome to Manal and Stephanie!
September 16 - Prof. Vicki Grassian has been selected to receive the 2023 Geochemistry Division Medal! The medal ceremony will be held at the National ACS Spring meeting in Indianapolis.
August 4 - Congratulations to Eshani and Stephanie for being recognized for Leadership in the Promotion of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect on the ACS website. Way to go!!
July 1 - Congratulations to Kyle for receiving a Teddy Traylor Award! Great job!!
June 23 - The group extends a warm welcome to all of the undergraduates joining us this summer! We are excited to work with SURF students Jennie Lee and Mauricio Agurcia, ENLACE students Gilberto Partida and Montse Palacios-Puga, and UCSD undergrad Justin Wang!!
Check it out!
Check it out!
Professor Vicki Grassian gave an amazing TEDx talk on the air we breath. Curious? Then watch the full video below!
Want to hear more? Then tune into NPR's Science Friday to hear two of Professor Vicki Grassian's talks on aerosols and the climate!
Ilgen, A. G.; Borguet, E.; Geiger, F. M.; Gibbs, J. M.; Grassian, V. H.; Jun, Y.S.; Kabengi, N.; Kubicki, J. D. “Capturing the Complex Structure and Dynamics of Solid-Water Interfaces in Continuum-Scale Models” Nature Communications 2024. 15, 5326 – 1 to 14.
Li, M.; Yang, S.; Rathi, M.; Kumar, S.; Dutcher, C.; Grassian, V. H. “Condensation Kinetics in Aqueous Microdroplets Driven by Coupled Interfacial Reactions and Gas-Phase Partitioning” Chemical Science 2024, 15, 13429 – 13441.
Sedlak, J.A.; Vishnoi, M.; Forsch, K.; Bhadha, P.; Aarons, S. M.; Grassian, V.H. “Probing Interactions at the Organic-Inorganic Interface of Biomass Burning Aerosol: Reactivity of Organic Tracer Species With Different Iron Oxide Mineral Phases” ACS Earth & Space Chemistry 2024, 8, 2463–2473.
Mora Garcia, S. L.; Gutierrez, I.; Nguyen, V. J.; Navea, J. G.; Grassian, V. H. "Enhanced HONO Formation from Aqueous Nitrate Photochemistry in the Presence of Marine Relevant Organics: Impact of Marine-Dissolved Organic Matter (m-DOM) Concentration on HONO Yields and Potential Synergistic Effects of Compounds within m-DOM" ACS ES&T Air. 2024, 1, 6, 525-535.
Hettiarachchi, E.; Grassian, V.H. "Impact of Surface Adsorption on DNA Structure and Stability: Implications for Environmental DNA Interactions with Iron Oxide Surfaces" Langmuir. 2024, 40, 52, 27194–27205.
Mehndiratta, L.; Lyp, A. E.; Slade, J. H.; Grassian, V. H. “Immersion Ice Nucleation of Atmospherically Relevant Lipid Particles” Environmental Science:Atmospheres 2024, 4, 1239-1254.
Li, M.; Boothby, C.; Continetti, R. E. and Grassian, V. H. “Size-Dependent Sigmoidal Reaction Kinetics for Pyruvic Acid Condensation at the Air-Water Interface in Aqueous Microdroplets” Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145, 22317-22321.
Kim, P.; Boothby, C.; Grassian, V. H. and Continetti, R. E. “Photo-Induced Reactions of Nitrate in Aqueous Microdroplets by Triplet Energy Transfer” Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2023, 14, 10677−10684.
DeMott, P. J.; Hill, T. C. J.; Moore, K. A.; Perkins, R. J.; Mael, L. E.; Busse, H. L.; Lee, H.; Kaluarachchie, C. P.; Mayer, K. J.; Sauer, J. S.; Mitt, B. A.; Tivanski, A. V.; Grassian, V. H.; Cappa, C. C.; Bertram, T. H.; Prather, K. A. “Atmospheric Oxidation Impact on Sea Spray Produced Ice Nucleating Particles” Environmental Science:Atmospheres 2023, 3, 1513-1532
Kim, D.; Townsley, S.; Grassian, V. H. “Vibrational Spectroscopy as a Probe of the Heterogeneities in Geochemical Thin Films and Single Particles on Macro, Micro and Nanoscales” RSC Advances 2023, 13, 28873 – 28884.
Li, J.; Link, M.; Pandit, S.; Webb, M., Mayer, K.; Garofalo, L.; Rediger, K.; Poppendieck, D.; Zimmerman, S.; Vance, M.E.; Grassian, V. H.; Morrison, G.C.; Turpin, B.J.; Farmer, D.K. “The Persistence of Smoke VOCs Indoors: Partitioning, Surface Cleaning, and Air Cleaning in a Smoke-Contaminated House”Science Advances 2023, 9, eadh8263.
Sit, I.; Young, M. A. Kubicki, J. and Grassian, V. H “Distinguishing Different Surface Interactions for Nucleotides Adsorbed onto Hematite and Goethite Particle Surfaces Through ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2023, 25, 20557 – 20566
Sit, I.; Fashina, B. T.; Baldo, A. P.; Leung, K.; Grassian, V. H.; Ilgen, A. “Formic and Acetic Acid pKa Values Increase Under Nanoconfinement” RSC Advances 2023, 13, 23147 – 23157
Karimova, K.; Alija, O.; Mora Garcia, S.; Grassian, V. H.; Gerber, R. B. and Navea, J. G. “pH Dependence of the Speciation and Optical Properties of 4-Benzoylbenzoic Acid” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2023, 25, 17306-17319
Miller, K. L.; Sit, I.; Xiang, Y.; Wu, J.; Pustelnik, J.; Tang, M.; Kiratitanaporn, W.; Grassian, V. H.; Chen, S. “Evaluation of CuO Nanoparticle Toxicity on 3D Bioprinted Human iPSC-derived Cardiac Tissues” Bioprinting 2023, e00284, 1-10
Angle, K.J.; Grassian, V.H.; Direct quantification of changes in pH within single levitated microdroplets and the kinetics of nitrate and chloride depletion. Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 6259-6268. DOI: 10.1039/D2SC06994F
Dommer, A.C.; Wauer, N.A.; Angle, K.J.; Davasam, A.; Rubiro, P.; Luo, M.; Morris, C.K.; Prather, K.A., Grassian, V.H.; Amaro, R.E. Revealing the Impacts of Chemical Complexity on Submicrometer Sea Spray Aerosol Morphology. ACS Cent. Sci. 2023, 9, 6, 1088–1103. DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.3c00184
Hettiarachchi, E.; Grassian, V. H. Heterogeneous Chemistry of Methyl Ethyl Ketone on Mineral Oxide Surfaces: Impacts of Relative Humidity and Nitrogen Dioxide on Product Formation. Environ. Sci.: Atmos. 2023, 3, 799-815. DOI: 10.1039.D3EA00023K
Leobardo Bañuelos, J.; Borguet,E.; Brown, G. E. Jr.; Cyan, R.T.; DeYoreo, J. J.; Dove, P. M.; Gaigeot, M.-P.; Geiger, F. M.; Gibbs, J. M.; Grassian, V. H.; Ilgen, A. G.; Jun, Y.-S.; Kabengi, N.; Katz, L.; Kubicki, J. D.; Lützenkirchen, J.; Putnis, C. V.; Remsing, R. C.; Rosso, K. M.; Rother, G.; Sulpizi, M.; Villalobos, M.; Zhang, H. “Oxide- and Silicate-Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment” Chemical Reviews 2023, 123, 6413−6544
Kim, D.; Grassian, V. H. Analysis of Micro- and Nanoscale Heterogeneities within Environmentally Relevant Thin Films Containing Biological Components, Oxyanions and Minerals Using AFM-PTIR Spectroscopy. Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts 2023, 25, 484 – 495. DOI: 10.1039/D3EM00005B.
Angle, K. J.; Nowak, C. M.; Grassian, V. H. Organic Acid Evaporation Kinetics from Aqueous Aerosols: Implications for Aerosol Buffering Capacity in the Atmosphere. Environ. Sci.: Atmos. 2023, 3, 316–327. DOI: 10.1039/D2EA00092J.
Frank, E. S.; Fan, H.; Grassian, V. H.; Tobias, D. J. Adsorption of 6-MHO on Two Indoor Relevant Surface Materials: SiO 2 and TiO 2. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2023, 25, 3930–3941. DOI: 10.1039/D2CP04876K.
Fan, H.; Lakey, P. S. J.; Frank, E. S.; Tobias, D. J.; Shiraiwa, M.; Grassian, V. H. Comparison of the Adsorption–Desorption Kinetics of Limonene and Carvone on TiO 2 and SiO 2 Surfaces under Different Relative Humidity Conditions. J. Phys. Chem. C 2022. 126, 50, 21253–21262. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c06853.
Alves, M. R.; Deeleepojananan, C.; Or, V. W.; Sit, I.; Grassian, V. H. Insights into Interactions of Chlorine-Based Cleaning Products with Indoor Relevant Surfaces. Environ. Chem. 2022. 19, 6, 343-349 . DOI: 10.1071/EN22031.
Hettiarachchi, E.; Grassian, V. H. Heterogeneous Formation of Organonitrates (ON) and Nitroxy-Organosulfates (NOS) from Adsorbed α-Pinene-Derived Organosulfates (OS) on Mineral Surfaces. ACS Earth Space Chem. 2022, 6, 12, 3017–3030. DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00259.
Sit, I.; Quirk, E.; Hettiarachchi, E.; Grassian, V. H. Differential Surface Interactions and Surface Templating of Nucleotides (DGMP, DCMP, DAMP, and DTMP) on Oxide Particle Surfaces. Langmuir 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c01604.
Alves, M. R.; Coward, E. K.; Gonzales, D.; Dang, D.; Sauer, J. S.; Mayer, K.; Prather, K. A.; Grassian, V. H. “Changes in Light Absorption and Composition of Marine- Chromophoric Marine-Dissolved Organic Matter Across a Microbial Bloom” Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts 2022, 24, 1923 - 1933
Kaluarachchi, C. P.; Or, V. W.; Lan, Y.; Hasenecz, E. S.; Kim, D.; Madawala, C. K.; Dorcé, G. P.; Mayer, K. J.; Sauer, J. S.; Lee, C.; Cappa, C. D.; Bertram, T. H.; Stone, E. A.; Prather, K. A.; Grassian, V. H.; Tivanski, A. V. Effects of Atmospheric Aging Processes on Nascent Sea Spray Aerosol Physicochemical Properties. ACS Earth Space Chem. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00258.
H. Fan, E. Frank, D. Tobias, V. Grassian. "Interactions of limonene and carvone on titanium dioxide surfaces" Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2022 DOI: 10.1039/D2CP03021G
E. Coward, K. Seech, M. Carter, R. Flick, V. Grassian. "Of Sea and Smoke: Evidence of Marine Dissolved Organic Matter Deposition from 2020 Western United States Wildfires" Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00383
S. Pandit, V. Grassian. "Gas-Phase Nitrous Acid (HONO) Is Controlled by Surface Interactions of Adsorbed Nitrite (NO2–) on Common Indoor Material Surfaces" Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c02042
R. Habre, D. Dorman, J. Abbatt, W. Bahnfleth, E. Carter, D. Farmer, G. Gawne-Mittelstaedt, A. Goldstein, V. Grassian, G. Morrison, J. Peccia, D. Poppendieck, K. Prather, M. Shiraiwa, H. Stapleton, M. Williams, M. Harries. "Why Indoor Chemistry Matters: A National Academies Consensus Report" Environ. Sci. Technol.2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c04163
V. Grassian. "Physical Chemistry of Environmental Interfaces and the Environment in Physical Chemistry─A Career Perspective" J. Phys. Chem. C. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c04100
E. Hettiarachchi, V. Grassian. "Heterogeneous Reactions of α-Pinene on Mineral Surfaces: Formation of Organonitrates and α-Pinene Oxidation Products" J. Phys. Chem. A. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c02663
Y. Mantri, I. Sit, J. Zhou, V. Grassian, J. Jokerst. "Photoacoustic Enhancement of Ferricyanide-Treated Silver Chalcogenide-Coated Gold Nanorods" J. Phys. Chem. C. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c01727
J. Abbatt, G. Morrison, V. Grassian, M. Shiraiwa, C. Weschler, P. Ziemann."How should we define an indoor surface?" Indoor Air. 2022, 32, DOI: 10.1111/ina.12955
H. Fan, E. Frank, P. Lakey, M. Shiraiwa, D. Tobias, V. Grassian. "Heterogeneous Interactions between Carvone and Hydroxylated SiO2" J. Phys. Chem. C. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c00815
K. Angle, C. Nowak, A. Davasam, A. Dommer, N. Wauer, R. Amaro, V. Grassian. "Amino Acids Are Driven to the Interface by Salts and Acidic Environments" J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00231
V. Or, M. Alves, M. Wade, S. Schwab, R. Corsi, V. Grassian. "Nanoscopic Study of Water Uptake on Glass Surfaces with Organic Thin Films and Particles from Exposure to Indoor Cooking Activities: Comparison to Model Systems" Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c06260
J. Sauer, K. Mayer, C. Lee, M. Alves, S. Amiri, C. Bahaveolos, E. Barnes, D. Crocker, J. Dinasquet, L. Garofalo, C. Kaluarachchi, D. Dang, D. Kilgour, L. Mael, B. Mitts, D. Moon, C. Morris, A. Moore, C. Ni, M. Pendergraft, D. Petras, R. Simpson, S. Smith, P. Tumminello, J. Walker, P. DeMott, D. Farmer, A. Goldstein, V. Grassian, J. Jaffe, F. Malfatti, T. Martz, J. Slade, A. Tivanski, T. Bertram, C. Cappa, K. Prather "The Sea Spray Chemistry and Particle Evolution Study (SeaSCAPE): Overview and Experimental Methods" Environ. Sci. Proc. Imp. 2021 DOI: 10.1039/D1EM00260K
A. Rose, E. Hettiarachchi, V. Grassian. "Monoethanolamine Adsorption on Oxide Surfaces" J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.059
N. Karimova, M. Luo, I. Sit, V. Grassian, R. Gerber. "Absorption Spectra and the Electronic Structure of Gallic Acid in Water at Different pH: Experimental Data and Theoretical Cluster Models" J. Phys. Chem. A. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.1c07333
K. Angle, V. Grassian, A. Ault. "The rapid acidification of sea spray aerosols" Phys. Today 2022 DOI: 10.1063/PT.3.4926
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