Marsha I. Lester
Marsha Lester | |
|---|---|
Physical Chemistry Spectroscopy | |
| Institutions | University of Pennsylvania |
| Thesis | Vibrational Relaxation Dynamics in Bulk Gases and Supersonic Molecular Beams (1981) |
| Doctoral advisor | George Flynn |
Marsha Isack Lester is an American physical chemist. She is currently the Edmund J. Kahn Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.[1] Lester uses both theoretical and experimental methods to study the physical chemistry of volatile organic compounds present in the Earth's atmosphere. Her current work focuses on the hydroxyl radical and Criegee intermediates.
Education
Lester graduated with a B.A. from Douglass Residential College, an institution for women within Rutgers University, in 1976. She then earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1981 in the laboratory of George Flynn. Her thesis was entitled Vibrational Relaxation Dynamics in Bulk Gases and Supersonic Molecular Beams.[2] She carried out postdoctoral work as a National Science Foundation Fellow at Bell Laboratories from 1981 to 1982.[1]
Career
Currently she works as a professor at
Previously, Lester was the chair of the Division of Laser Science of the
Research
Lester's research group utilizes theoretical and experimental approaches to study chemical reactions. She focuses on modeling potential energy surfaces between reactive partners, with an emphasis on
Currently, her group focuses on photo-induced chemistry of Criegee intermediates, an intermediate in the alkene ozonolysis pathway. This pathway is a primary oxidation pathway for alkenes in the troposphere and generates atmospheric hydroxyl radicals. Her lab synthesizes Criegee intermediates in order to further study their chemical reactions using spectroscopy.[1]
Her lab also currently focuses on modeling and observing the collisional quenching of excited hydroxyl radicals. Quenching impacts the concentration of hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere, and is therefore of environmental interest.
Her research group at the University of Pennsylvania was behind the development of
Awards
- Herbert P. Broida Prize(2019)
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences[7] (2016)
- Garvan-Olin Medalof the American Chemical Society (2014)
- Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2010)
- Fellow of American Academy of Arts & Sciences(2008)
- Bourke lectureship from Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2005)
- Guggenheim Fellowship (2002–03)
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1997)
- Fellow of the American Physical Society (1993) [8]
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (1987)
- Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Award (1986)
References
- ^ a b c d e Marsha I. Lester, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania.
- ^ "The Flynn Group -- Theses and Publications". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ^ "Marsha I. Lester | Pennergy". www.energy.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ^ PMID 29279378.
- ^ "Biography". American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on June 1, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
- ^ "Marsha Lester". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ^ "National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected". Retrieved 2016-05-05.
- ^ "AP Fellow Archive". APS. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
| Authority control databases: Academics |
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