The absorption of sunlight drives the vast majority of chemistry in the atmosphere.  With the growing concern over atmospheric pollution and climate change, characterizing the photochemical reactions in the atmosphere and their corresponding mechanisms is of central importance for making predictive climate models.  In addition, there is a considerable number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere emitted from both anthropogenic and biogenic sources of  (~104-105 VOCs).  Consequently, there are still many gaps in the current understanding and modelling. To tackle this problem, our research involves a combination of experimental and theoretical methods to study the multi-phase photochemistry of chromophoric organic compounds commonly found in the atmosphere. This research studies key aspects of photochemical reactions including spectroscopic properties, chemical composition of reaction products, tropospheric photolysis rates and quantum yields for major reaction pathways.

Christina Sofos (Chemistry; 2022)

Ahmed Rushdi (Biochemistry; 2023)

Enson Flores (Chemistry; 2023)

Bridget Ferris (Chemistry and Mathematics; 2024) 

Pavi Upadhya (Biology; 2025)

Henry Esses (ENSURE; 2026)

Carlos Suarez (Chemistry; 2024)