The University of New Mexico's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology will host the 17th Annual Riley O. Schaeffer Endowed Lectureship Nov. 6, featuring Michael J. Therien, a distinguished professor of chemistry at Duke University.
Therien will present "Supermolecular Chemistry" at 4 p.m. in Clark Hall, Room 101. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Therien's research focuses on designing and studying complex molecular structures, bioinspired assemblies, proteins and nanoscale materials with unique optical and electronic properties. His laboratory has pioneered approaches to engineer electro-optic functions that support light harvesting, charge migration, long-wavelength emission, imaging and photon upconversion.
His other research accomplishments include developing molecular wires that enable extensive charge delocalization, creating carbon nanotube superstructures that facilitate energy conversion, and identifying biological mechanisms involved in generating high-energy photoproducts.
During the lecture, Therien will discuss how supermolecular chemistry can be used to design materials with precisely controlled optical, electronic and magnetic properties. Supermolecular chromophores are assemblies of light-absorbing molecular components that interact strongly with one another, creating unique properties that individual molecules do not possess.
These interactions can help scientists control how energy and electrical charges move through materials, opening possibilities for advances in specialized light emission, imaging, solar energy conversion, optical technologies and spin-based electronics.
Therien received his undergraduate education at UCLA and St. Andrews University. He earned his doctoral degree at UCSD under the research direction of William Trogler. Following a postdoctoral fellowship with Harry Gray at Caltech, he took a faculty appointment at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Alan G. MacDiarmid Professor. In 2008, his laboratory moved to Duke University.
For more information, visit the Schaeffer Endowed Lectureship.
