Karen Brewer, Chair
(315) 859-4726

Chemistry Department
Hamilton College
198 College Hill Road
Clinton, NY 13323

CHEMICAL PHYSICS FACULTY

As an interdisciplinary concentration, faculty members in both the chemistry and physics departments at Hamilton collaborate to offer chemical physics courses. The core faculty have expertise in computational physical chemistry, structural biochemistry, and laser spectroscopy.
 

Gordon Jones, Ph.D., Professor of Physics
Gordon Jones earned his master's and doctorate in nuclear physics from Princeton University. His research interests include using neutrons to study fundamental symmetries and polarizing neutrons for use in materials science. On the fundamental side, Jones studies time reversal symmetry and weak interactions in nuclei. On the applied side, Jones builds devices used to understand magnetic materials such as the read heads in computer hard drives. His published papers appear in a range of journals including Physical Review C, Journal of Applied Crystalography, and Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Prior to coming to Hamilton in 1999, Jones worked as a NRC Post-Doc, NIST, and a visiting scientist at Indiana University. More about Gordon Jones ...

 

Ann Silversmith, Ph.D., Professor of Physics
Silversmith specializes in looking at high-resolution laser spectroscopy of rare earths in solids. In 1989, Silversmith joined the Hamilton College faculty with a Ph.D. from the Australian National University, introducing laser spectroscopy, an aspect of physics easily accessible to students. She specializes in developing new laser materials that would be useful in the solid state laser industry. Silversmith has since returned to the Australian National University as a visiting fellow, where she researched the spectroscopy of rare earth doped glass. Her research has been funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Research Corporation, and National Science Foundation. Silversmith's papers have appeared in the Journal of Noncrystallized Solids and the Journal of Luminescence.  More about Ann Silversmith ...

 

Adam Van Wynsberghe, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Adam W. Van Wynsberghe joins Hamilton after two years at the University of California-San Diego where he was a NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow. He received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2001 and was a NSF pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he completed his Ph.D. in biophysics in 2007.  Van Wynsberghe's research interests center around the use of theoretical and computational techniques to study biophysical problems from both basic and applied perspectives. Currently, he is investigating the nature of protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, the origins and roles of conformational changes and dynamics in biomolecular systems, and the dynamical aspects of enzyme catalysis. More about Adam Van Wynsberghe...