Bill James, fifth year graduate student. Bill graduated from the University of Scranton (Pennsylvania) in 2004 with a B.S. in chemistry (Honors Program) under the supervision of Dr. David Rusak. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Bill is a 2000 graduate of West Scranton High School, where he lettered in Cross Country, Basketball, and Track & Field. Bill is interested in laser spectroscopy and dynamics, particularly with respect to biologically relevant molecules. He is a die-hard Boston Red Sox, Detroit Lions, and Boston Celtics fan and enjoys watching and playing most sports (especially GOLF). Outside of the lab and the sports world, Bill enjoys reading, traveling, and photography. Back to Main Group Page

Evan Buchanan, second year graduate student. Evan "Duyy" Buchanan grew up in a river side cabin in upstate Michagan. He has taken up residence in basement of the Brown Laboratory of Chemistry. Back to Main Group Page

Josh Newby, fifth year graduate student. Newby, who has aspirations (delusions?) of grandeur, grew up on a farm in central Illinois. Being the Newby is never easy, but is useful in shifting the blame, since a Newby doesn’t know anything yet, he cannot be responsible for accidents. Newby obtained his bachelors degrees in chemistry and secondary education from Eastern Illinois University. At EIU, Newby worked on Fourier Transform Microwave spectroscopy of weakly bound systems with his partner in crime Elmo. If he ever has free time again, Newby would enjoy hiking, astronomy and getting some sleep. Back to Main Group Page

Chirantha P. Rodrigo, fourth year graduate student. Chirantha is a native Sri Lankan and joined the Zwier group in 2005. He first discovered his interest in chemistry when he was studying in Veluwana College and DSSC, in Colombo. Chirantha completed his B.Sc (Chem Hons, 2nd Lower) at the University of Colombo (2001) and moved to UNLV(2002) in Nevada to complete his M.S in chemistry. He loves traveling and enjoys playing cricket and interested in photography. Back to Main Group Page

Christian Müller, Post-doctoral fellow. Christian was born in Bucharest (Romania) and moved with his family to the lovely town Spangenberg in Germany, located in the Hessian low mountain range, when he was six years old. He studied Chemistry and Philosophy at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany) and the Universidade da Coruña (Spain). He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Göttingen University in July 2005 (group of Prof. J. Troe). He enjoys reading, playing guitar, running and the sun. Christian joined the Zwier group in September 2006.Back to Main Group Page

Josh Sebree,third year graduate student. Josh is originally from Salina, KS. He first got interested in chemistry when his 8th grade teacher accidentally blew up a demonstration. Josh attended The University of Kansas. While in attendance, he participated in the creation of a chemistry demonstration show "Frozen Flames University" where characters representing fire, Dr. Pyro, and ice, Dr. Cool, dueled it out to see who was the top. The show included cheesy lines, colorful explosions, and singing and dancing in an attempt to raise interest in the sciences in the younger generation and performed up to 22 times per year. Josh participated in two undergraduate research projects at KU, Calculating Henry's Law Coefficients in CO2 Expanded Solvent under Dr. Laird and Isotopic Fingerprints of World Coffee under Dr. Gonzales. He also spent the summer of 2004 at the University of Regensburg in Germany doing helium beam research with Dr. Slenczka. Josh entered Purdue as a graduate student and joined the Zwier group in fall of 2006. Outside of work he enjoys reading, riding his bike, hiking, and traveling the world. Back to Main Group Page