Current Lab Members
J. Houston Miller
Over an academic career of more than thirty years, Professor Miller has applied optical spectroscopy to problems in combustion chemistry, atmospheric science, and biophotonics. In addition to his research activities, the PI has been awarded the Bender Teaching Award for Outstanding teaching and was nominated for his work in teaching science to non-STEM students for the University Honors Program. He is the recipient of the Condon Award from the Department of Commerce, a Churchill Fellowship, and a Leverhulme Fellowship. He is a visiting professor at Cambridge University and a Bye Fellow of Robinson College of Cambridge. [Link to biosketch]
Jennifer Giaccai
Jennifer is a doctoral student in chemistry examining soot formation and carbon-based black pigments. She has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Macalester College in St. Paul MN and an MSE in Materials Science from the Johns Hopkins University. She has worked as a scientist in art museums for twenty years, at the Smithsonian Institution and the Walters Art Museum. She has been selected as a winner of the Benjamin D. Van Evera Memorial Prize for effective teaching and a David Glover White Fellow.
Katie Hinnant
Katie Hinnant is a part-time doctoral student, working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, studying fire suppression. Through her work with firefighting foams, she has designed experiments and wrote procedures to test firefighting foam degradation, fuel transport through firefighting foams, and small-scale extinction for firefighting foams. This research has involved the use of optical diagnostics and infrared spectroscopy which she continues to learn under Prof. Miller. Her graduate work will focus on using optical diagnostics to further probe the efficiency of firefighting foams in a flame environment.
Monica Flores
Monica is a first year doctoral student in chemistry working on the assemblage of a Campbell Scientific weather station with the inclusion of a greenhouse gas sensor. She has an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Florida International University.
Andrew Kamischke