Scott Smith
Senior Research Scientist II, Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, Chemical and Material Sciences Division, Chemical Structure and DynamicsCurrent Activities and Projects
My research interests are in studying kinetics and dynamics of gas/surface interactions. I particularly enjoy developing kinetic models that accurately simulate adsorption, desorption, and reactions that occur at the gas/surface interface. In recent years, this work has involved the characterization of the kinetic behavior of crystalline ice and amorphous solid water. These experiments determined the adsorption, desorption, and crystallization kinetics of the nanoscale films using molecular beam and programmed desorption techniques. I am also interested in understanding phenomena occurring in deeply supercooled liquids. These techniques have allowed us to probe physical properties of the kinetically metastable material, amorphous solid water (ASW).
An extension of this work is to use deeply supercooled binary mixtures to elucidate the microscopic details of solvation and dissolution. The desorption spectra of the various binary mixtures exhibit complex features that depend strongly on both the fi composition and thickness. We are currently developing kinetic models to interpret the complex desorption spectra from these mixtures.
Research Interests
Supercooled liquids and amorphous solids. Gas phase surface interactions.
Education
Ph. D. University of Utah 1988
B.S. Northern Arizona University 1983
