Mitchio OkumuraProfessor of Chemical Physics
B.S./M.S., Yale University, 1979
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1986
Laser spectroscopy of reactive intermediates; Reaction rates, mechanisms and dynamics of free radicals, clusters, and transient species; Chemistry of peroxyl and alkoxyl radicals; Photochemistry and photodissociation dynamics; Mechanisms of termolecular radical-radical reactions; Nonadiabatic effects and multiple surfaces in radical reactions; The Jahn-Teller Effect in NO3; Long range intemolecular forces; Isotope effects; Development of methods in cavity-enhanced and heterodyne-detected laser spectroscopy.
Awards and Honors
Visiting Scholar, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001
JILA Visiting Fellow, University of Colorado, 1999-2000
Editorial Board Member, Molecular Physics, 1999-
Richard M. Badger Teaching Prize, Chemistry Department, Caltech, 1993
Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation, 1989
Newly Appointed Faculty Award, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, 1988
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Chicago, 1987-88
Regents Fellowship, University of California, 1982-83
General Electric Fellowship, University of California, 1980-81
Churchill Scholar, Cambridge University, 1980
Moore Prize in Chemistry, Yale University, 1979
Phi Beta Kappa, 1978
Research Interests
The research activities of the Okumura Group are in the areas of laser spectroscopy, kinetics, and reaction dynamics, applied to problems in atmospheric chemistry. We study atmospheric free radicals and transient intermediates in order to understand the reactions and photochemistry that are most important in the troposphere and stratosphere. Our goal is both to determine parameters of key reactions and species in the atmosphere, and to understand the chemical physics of these processes at the most fundamental level.
Topics
Laser spectroscopy of reactive intermediates; Reaction rates, mechanisms and dynamics of free radicals, clusters, and transient species; Chemistry of peroxyl and alkoxyl radicals; Photochemistry and photodissociation dynamics; Mechanisms of termolecular radical-radical reactions; Nonadiabatic effects and multiple surfaces in radical reactions; The Jahn-Teller Effect in NO3; Long range intemolecular forces; Isotope effects; Development of methods in cavity-enhanced and heterodyne-detected laser spectroscopy.