Research Interests:   Recent research endeavors in heterogeneous catalysis have focused on developing biomimetic systems (e.g. artificial photosynthetic devices based on their biological counterparts), and on implementing heterogeneous catalysis in the fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industries.These processes involve chemical reactions that occur at the solid-liquid interface.Heterogeneous catalysis at solid-liquid interfaces also plays an important role in many biochemical, atmospheric, and geochemical processes. Despite the importance of solid-liquid interfaces in enzyme catalysis and heterogeneous catalysis, few in situ studies have focused on catalytic solid-liquid interfaces.My research endeavors focus on the development of in situ attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy to characterize the surface properties of heterogeneous catalysts while in the presence of liquid phase reactants.