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2006 News
Doug Tobias elected to
AAAS!
AirUCI
PI Doug
Tobias was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science in November 2006! This is a great honor for Doug, and we
offer him big congratulations!
Matthew Brown awarded ALS
fellowship!
August 2006
AirUCI
graduate student researcher Matthew Brown has been awarded the Advanced
Light Source doctoral fellowship. The
ALS Doctoral
Fellowship program allows beginning researchers to work at the
frontier of synchrotron radiation research and to help advance
state-of-the-art applications in many areas of physical and biological
science. Way to go, Matt!
Dr. Jean Futrell joins
AirUCI
Advisory Panel!
August 2006
Dr. Steve Colson has retired from
PNNL and has stepped down as an original member of the AirUCI
Advisory Committee. We thank him for his service to AirUCI
and wish him a fabulous time in retirement!
Joining us on the Advisory Committee is Dr.
Jean Futrell of PNNL. He is Battelle Fellow, Chief Science Officer, and Chair of the Council of Fellows at PNNL.
He served as Director of PNNL's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) between 1998 and 2002
and is now Director Emeritus of the EMSL. Dr. Futrell has authored
over 600 publications, including 381 refereed journal articles.
Dr. Futrell has made significant
research contributions, with particular interest in the development or modification of instrumentation for specialized research purposes including high-pressure and chemical-ionization mass spectrometers
and tandem and triple-quadruple instruments.
His recent research has emphasized the use of molecular beam methods with state-to-state reaction dynamics. Collision-induced dissociation of polyatomic ions and electron-transfer reaction dynamics (including dissociative charge-transfer reactions) are topics of special current interest. We welcome him and look forward to his contributions to AirUCI!
Barbara Finlayson-Pitts a
distinguished professor!
August 2006
AirUCI
director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts has been awarded the title of UCI
Distinguished Professor for her international renown in atmospheric
chemistry and commendable teaching and service at UCI. Special
congratulations to you,
Barbara!
John Hemminger the new
Dean of Physical Sciences!
July 2006
Michael R. Gottfredson, UCI Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost,
announced on July 17, 2006 the appointment of
PI John Hemminger as the new Dean of Physical Sciences at UCI. All
of us at AirUCI
are so proud, John!
Nizkorodov group on the
cover of PCCP!

In a recent paper featured on the
cover of the June, 2006 issue of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics,
AirUCI
PI Sergey Nizkorodov and his group describe photochemistry of oxidized
organic monolayers on quartz nanoparticles. This study is part of the
group’s ambitious efforts to understand the role of solar radiation in
atmospheric chemistry of organic aerosol particles.
Read the article
AirUCI
team edits special
edition of Chemical Reviews!

AirUCI
Professors Doug Tobias and Barbara Finlayson-Pitts, along with AirUCI
international collaborator, Pavel Jungwirth, edited a special issue of
Chemical Reviews on the "Structure and Chemistry of Aqueous
Interfaces." In this issue, Jungwirth and Tobias review their
theoretical development and experimental validation of a new view of ion
solvation at the air-water interface and its implications for the
chemistry of aqueous particles in the atmosphere.
Read the article
John Hemminger receives
AVS award!
May 2006
AirUCI
PI John Hemminger has been awarded the
American Vacuum Society's Medard W. Welch Award for outstanding
theoretical and/or experimental research within the ten years preceding
the year in which the award is made. Congratulations, John!
Carlos Gutierrez named
Teacher of the Year!
May 2006
AirUCI
advisory committee member Carlos Gutierrez of CSULA has been named 2005
Teacher of the Year by the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the
Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Said
CSULA President Mames M. Rosser, "His graduates overwhelmingly become
super-achievers, whose successes make the entire University proud."
Congratulations, Carlos!
Arthur Winer receives
Haagen-Smit Award!
April 2006
Professor Arthur Winer, a member of
our
AirUCI
advisory committee, has been awarded the 2006
Haagen-Smit Award
by the California Air Resources Board. This prestigious award is
given for contributions to science and policy of air pollution and is
most well deserved for Professor Winer.
Many congratulations!
Barbara Finlayson-Pitts
elected to NAS and AAAS!
April 2006
AirUCI
Director Barbara Finlayson-Pitts has been elected as a member of the
National Academy of Sciences on April 24, 2006 as one of 72 new members
and 18 foreign associates from 16 countries in recognition of their
distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Details
Professor Finlayson-Pitts was also
named as a 2006 fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among 175 new fellows
and 20 new foreign honorary members elected this year to AAAS.
This year’s new fellows also include former Presidents George H.W. Bush
and William Jefferson Clinton, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts,
Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and Rockefeller University President Sir
Paul Nurse, and actor and director Martin Scorsese. Way to go,
Barbara!
Details
Dr. Jim Pitts among most
cited researchers!
March 2006
According to
Thomson Scientific, an
independent firm that catalogs and distributes worldwide scientific
literature,
AirUCI's
Jim Pitts is among the most cited scholars in any field over the past 20
years. Thomson's ISI Highly Cited Index lists the top 250 people
whose research papers were cited most often in papers published by other
scholars in many different disciplines. Among the top 250
most-cited scholars worldwide, 18 are from UCI, including Jim.
Big congratulations to you, Jim!
Professor Nizkorodov addresses Symposium!
February 2006
On Wednesday, February 15, 2006,
Professor Sergey Nizkorodov of
AirUCI
spoke at the 23rd Informal Symposium on Kinetics and
Photochemical Processes in the Atmosphere, held in the Beckman
Institute (BI) at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
This one-day conference has become a traditional annual gathering of
researchers from the Southern California region who work in fields
related to Atmospheric Chemistry. Invited speakers included:
- Dr. Anne-Marie Eldering, NASA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Prof. Anna Krylov, USC
- Prof. Sergey Nizkorodov, UC
Irvine
The symposium was organized
by Stan Sander, Paul Wennberg, and Mitchio Okumura. For more
information, visit the symposium web site at
http://www.ese.caltech.edu/kinetics
Alan Lloyd addresses
overflow crowd!
January 2006
On January 18, 2006
AirUCI
co-hosted an evening to honor Dr. Alan Lloyd, Secretary of California
State EPA and member of the
AirUCI
advisory committee. As part of the
Chancellor's Distinguished Fellows series, Dr. Lloyd spoke on "Air Quality, the
Environment, and Energy from Smog to Global Climate Change" at the
Beckman Center
on the UCI campus. The response was overwhelming, with standing
room only! More info
2005 News
Jennie Thomas awarded
ARCS Fellowship!
October 2005
AirUCI
grad student
researcher Jennie Thomas has been awarded an Achievement Rewards for
College Scientists (ARCS) Fellowship. The description reads:
"This particular fellowship program is one of UCI's most
distinguished. Fellows for this program are selected on the basis of
their academic accomplishments and promise as well as their
leadership qualities consistent with the mission of the ARCS
Foundation; i.e., representing the future leaders of tomorrow's
American scientific community."
Congratulations, Jennie!
Tobias & AirUCI
researchers publish three key articles!
June 2005
In the April 28 and May 12 issues of the Journal of Physical
Chemistry B, Professor Doug Tobias and collaborators published
three articles reporting combined theoretical and spectroscopic
studies of the structure of the surfaces of aqueous electrolyte
solutions (acid, base, and salts of atomic and molecular ions).
Among the collaborators are
AirUCI
researcher Professor Pavel Jungwirth of the Academy of Sciences of
the Czech Republic, and former UCI graduate students Professor
Heather Allen of Ohio State University and Dr. Liem Dang of Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory.

June 2005
AirUCI
grad student
researcher Nicholas Potter has been appointed a SURP Fellow at UCI for
Summer 2005 by the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP)/Undergraduate
Research Opportunities Program (UROP). This appointment is in
support of his research project, "Molecular Dynamics Simulations
of the Uptake of Ozone in Oleic Acid at the Air-Water Interface"
under the supervision of Professor Douglas Tobias.
Congratulations, Nick!
May 2005
Professor Donald Dabdub was
awarded the 'Honorary Professor Award in appreciation for the hard
work and dedication to excellence' for
Pi Tau Sigma, an
international mechanical engineering honor society. This
award is especially meaningful as it comes directly from these honor
society students. Congratulations, Donald!
January 2005
In the January 28, 2005 issue
of Science, the Hemminger group with the Salmeron group at
Lawrence Berkeley National
Lab reported their findings on how surfaces of ionic solutions
differ from the bulk.
The article, entitled Electron Spectroscopy of Aqueous Solution
Interfaces Reveals Surface Enhancement of Halides, reports
ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements that
confirm theoretical predictions of enhanced halogen ion
concentrations at the air-water interface of alkali halide
solutions.
Read the article and click your browser's
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View the graphic
2004 News
December
16, 2004
Dr.
Alan Lloyd, a member of our
AirUCI
Advisory Committee, was appointed Secretary
of the California Environmental Protection Agency by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Alan’s track record of success and balanced approach as chairman of
the Air Resources Board and expertise in environmental policy and
management makes him a tremendous asset to the people of
California,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. Congratulations,
Alan!
Read the article and click your browser's
Back button to return to this page.
October 28, 2004
It was announced today that
Dr. Sergey Nizkorodov will be the recipient of the 2005 Coblentz
Award to be presented in June 2005. This is one of the more
prestigious awards in the field of vibrational spectroscopy, given
to the Outstanding Young Spectroscopist under the age of 36, and a well deserved honor to Sergey —
congratulations! The list of prior awardees can be found at
http://casnov1.cas.muohio.edu/coblentz/COBLIST.HTM
March 30th, 2004 – Anaheim
California
While attending the American Chemical Society annual meeting at the
Disneyland Hotel, Barbara Finlayson-Pitts was presented with
the 2004 ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science &
Technology.
At the same meeting, John Hemminger was presented with the 2004 ACS Arthur W. Adamson Award
for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry.
Congratulations, Barbara and
John!
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