Category: Lab Updates

‘Pub News’ – Oct 2021

Dr. Alexander published a perspective paper in a new open access journal, Physchem entitled “Toward Computational Accuracy in Realistic Systems to Aid Understanding of Field-Level Water Quality Issues”, published as part of the special issue Physical Chemistry Perspectives for the New Decade. Work described in the paper was supported by the National Science Foundation and CROMIUM. The paper can be accessed here.

 

‘Pub News’ – June 2021

Dr. Alexander published a paper in one of the leading open-access journals for Chemistry content, Molecules entitled “Methyl-cyclohexane methanol (MCHM) isomer-dependent binding on amorphous carbon surfaces”. This paper investigates the hypothesis that differences in the MCHM isomer binding to carbonaceous filter media, combined with seasonal water temperatures, resulted in MCHM again entering the drinking water system in WV months after the Jan 2014 MCHM spill was “cleaned up”. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and CROMIUM. The paper can be accessed here.

 

‘Pub News’ – Feb. 2017

Dr. Alexander published a paper in the Journal of Mathematical Chemistry entitled “Performance of a rigid rod statistical mechanical treatment to predict monolayer ordering: a study of chain interactions and comparison with molecular dynamics simulation”. This paper investigates whether a very simple statistical mechanics model can capture details of organic surface structures with similar accuracy of more expensive molecular dynamics approaches. The work was supported in part by a UofM College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Grant and CROMIUM. The paper can be accessed here.

 

‘Pub News’ – Sept. 2016

The first paper resulting from our NSF and USGS sponsored workshop Fostering Advances in Water Resource Protection and Crisis Communication, Lessons Learned from Recent Disasters held in response to the 2014 Elk River and Dan River water contamination events has been published in the Journal of Environmental Quality!  The workshop was held to convene the community of researchers investigating these disasters that impacted water resources, consolidate and disseminate lessons learned on the science and risk communications of these and other disasters impacting water resources, and identify future research needs. The paper entitled “Enabling Science Support for Better Decision-Making when Responding to Chemical Spills” was co-authored by researchers at West Virginia University, Virginia Tech, Utah State, USGS, Purdue, and Dr. Alexander and Dr. DeYonker of the UofM. The paper can be accessed here.

‘Pub News’ – April 2016

Dr. Alexander, Dr. DeYonker, and UofM undergraduate Katherine Charbonnet have published a paper in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics entitled “Dipole moments of trans-and cis-(4-methylcyclohexyl) methanol (4-MCHM): obtaining the right conformer for the right reason”. This paper details the importance of choosing an appropriate level of quantum chemical methodology, and the need for conformational averaging, in determining fate and transport properties. It is the second of many papers that will come out of our NSF-funded work in response to the Elk River chemical spill in Jan. 2014. The paper can be accessed here.

 

‘Funding News’ – Jan. 2016

The FedEx Institute of Technology awarded funds for Dr. Alexander’s research project entitled “Application of amphibious drone technology to enable environmental monitoring and sampling to support disaster response and drinking water resource protection” as part of the new FedEx Drones, RObotics, and Navigation Enabled Systems (DRONES) Research Cluster.

 

‘Pub News’ – Mar. 2015

In collaboration with researchers at Virginia Tech, Dr. Alexander, Dr. DeYonker, and UofM undergraduate Katherine Charbonnet have published a paper in Environmental Science and Technology Letters entitled “Partitioning, Aqueous Solubility, and Dipole Moment Data for cis– and trans-(4-Methylcyclohexyl)methanol, Principal Contaminants of the West Virginia Chemical Spill”. This is the first of many papers that will come out of our NSF-funded work in response to the Elk River chemical spill in Jan. 2014. The paper can be accessed here.

 

‘Funding News’ – Jan. 2015

The National Science Foundation has awarded funds to sponsor a workshop entitled “Fostering Advances in Water Resource Protection and Crisis Communications, Lessons Learned from Recent Disasters” that will focus on research outcomes from work on the Elk River (Jan. 2014) and Dan River (Feb. 2014) spills. Dr. Jennifer Weidhaas (PI, WVU) and and Dr. Alexander (co-PI) are organizing the workshop to be held at the end of May 2015. Information about the workshop, and a compendium of research resources related to these disasters can be found at our Water Workshop site.

 

‘Funding News’ – Dec. 2014

Dr. Alexander was awarded a grant for a project entitled “Electric-field induced morphology of covalently-bound peptide surfaces: Toward switchable biological interfaces” from the TN-SCORE Seed Program in Collaborative Quantitative Biology. Dr. Firouzeh Sabri (UM Physics) and Dr. Tessa Calhoun (Department of Chemistry, UT Knoxville) are Co-PIs on the grant.