Contact Information
Department
of Chemistry
Southern
Illinois University
Carbondale,
IL 62901-4409
Office:
Neckers 325
Phone:
618-453-2897
FAX:
618-453-6408
Lab:
Neckers 307, 309, 322
Lab
Phone: 618-453-2896
Group Information
Publications
Curriculum Vitae
Group Members
Group Alumni
Research Instrumentation
SIUC
Websites
Chemistry Department
Meyers Institute
Chemistry Faculty
College of Science
SIUC Main Page
Selected
Research Related Sites
Chalmers Liquid Crystal Group
CWRU
Liquid Crystal Physics
Liquid Crystal Group Hamburg
FLC
Materials Research Center, Boulder CO
Liquid
Crystal Institute at Kent State
Current Major Funding
Agencies
National Science Foundation
National Institutes of Health
Petroleum Research Fund
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Daniel J. Dyer
Associate Professor
of Chemistry
Dan
Dyer received his B.A. in Chemistry
at the University of Minnesota in 1990 where he completed research under the
direction of Paul G. Gassman. In February 1996 he completed his Ph.D. at the
University of Colorado with David M. Walba. He then accepted a postdoctoral
fellowship at the NSF Center for Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular
Assemblies at the IBM Almaden Research Center and Stanford University under
the direction of Robert J. Twieg. In 1997 he moved to the California
Institute of Technology where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow under the
direction of Seth R. Marder. Dr. Dyer joined the faculty at SIUC in August
1998.
Awards
& Honors:
NSF-Career Award (2001); 3M-Nontenured Faculty Award (2000 & 2001); Oak
Ridge Associated Universities-Ralph Powe Junior Faculty Award (2000).
Service
& Volunteer Activities: Chair - Southern Illinois section of the American Chemical
Society (2003)
Hobbies: Drinking Beer, Various Sports,
Gambling, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Major Fields: Organic/Polymer/Materials
Chemistry
 Research in
the Dyer group is focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of
advanced organic materials. We utilize the tools of organic chemistry to
create small molecules and macromolecules with interesting properties and
functions.
A major goal of ours is
to elucidate the molecular origins of self-assembly processes in order to
control the supramolecular organization of organic molecules and
macromolecules. In particular, organic thin films formed by chemical
transformations are intellectually fascinating and technologically important.
Chemists and materials scientists are particularly interested in developing
new methodologies that allow for the "controlled" synthesis of
large supramolecular assemblies with well-defined structures. Such assemblies
are ubiquitous in nature (e.g. cell membranes, liquid crystals, proteins,
etc.) and typically form spontaneously under the influence of forces that are
poorly understood.
.
Our
work is highly interdisciplinary, consequently students and postdocs are
exposed to wide variety of equipment and characterization techniques. This includes a large amount of
synthesis with common techniques like mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), and infrared (IR) spectroscopies. For thin film characterization we
utilize reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS), x-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy
(AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and contact angle measurements. Polymers are characterized with size
exclusion chromatography (SEC) and multi-angle light scattering (MALS). Our
liquid crystals and polymers are also analyzed with thermal techniques such
as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA),
and polarized optical microscopy (POM).
Finally, we utilize advanced x-ray techniques to probe the structure
of these materials, including x-ray reflectivity, small angle x-ray
scattering (SAXS), and wide angle x-ray scattering (WAXS).
Current Research Projects:
Polymer Brush Nanosponges
Liquid Crystal Polymer Composite Films
Hydrogen Bonding Liquid Crystals
Fluorescent Biosensors
Publications Group Members Chemistry Faculty
SIUC
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