Dr. Gail Blaustein

Classes | Education | Research Interests | Memberships | Professional Service | Publications

Classes

CHEM-1200/1201  General Chemistry I Lecture/Laboratory

CHEM-1210/1211  General Chemistry II Lecture/Laboratory

CHEM-3150           Computational Chemistry

CHEM-3800/3801  Physical Chemistry I Lecture/Laboratory

CHEM-4200/4201  Physical Chemistry II Lecture/Laboratory

Education

Doctorate (2010)

Chemistry

Tulane University

Dissertation: “Charge and Energy Transport in One-Dimensional Nanomaterials”

Bachelor of Science (1999)

Materials and Metallurgical Engineering

Mathematics Minor

South Dakota School of Mines

Research Interests

Nanoparticle interactions

Engineered nanomaterials have useful properties due to their small size (1 to 100 nanometers) and relatively high surface area.  However, there is significant concern that the increasing ubiquity of nanomaterials in everyday life presents potential risk to human health and the environment. Currently, very little information exists regarding the release, fate, and toxicity of nanomaterials. Furthermore, some of the important chemical and physical properties governing their interactions are not very well understood.

I am interested in developing and testing an interactive model for lyophobic colloids to better characterize nano-sized particle behavior.  The development of this model will help elucidate homogeneous and heterogeneous nano-sized particle interactions within an environmental context and potentially aid in predicting the toxicological impact of nanomaterials in a soil matrix.

Theoretical study of diphenylaminopyridinophane

Diphenylaminopyridinophane (DP) is a heterocyclophane that constrains a diphenylamine (DPA) fluorophore and a pyridine quencher to an alignment favoring internal hydrogen bond formation resulting in self-quenching.  Interruption of the internal hydrogen bond restores fluorescence to the DPA subunit, and the presence of background fluorescence in DP emission spectra supports the existence of DP in non-hydrogen bonded conformers.  A computational investigation of DP conformer distributions in gas and condensed phases and the prediction of spectral properties of DP conformers in the absence and presence of enhancers can provide critical insight regarding the interpretation of experimental data and may form the basis for a new model that describes how conformational perturbations affect the photophysical properties of DP and analogous heterocyclophanes.

Memberships

• American Chemical Society
• Iota Sigma Pi, National Honor Society of Women in Chemistry
• Society for Science & the Public
• Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society, Full Member
• Omicron Delta Kappa, National Leadership Honor Society
• Tau Beta Pi, National Engineering Honor Society

Professional Service

• Alternate Councilor, ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry, 2014
• Selection Panelist for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2012, 2013 and 2014
• Campus Champion to promote student use of West Virginia High Performance Computational Resources, 2012-2013
• Grand Awards Judge for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, 2012
• Elected to the National Council of Iota Sigma Pi as the Members-at-Large Coordinator, 2011
• Reviewer of Submissions, Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, 2010
• Reviewer of Submissions, International Symposium on Optical Engineering and Photonic Technology, 2009 and 2010

Publications and Presentations

Ziegler, E.W., Baum, J.C., Brown, A.B., Blaustein, G.S. (2016) A computational study of substituent effects on the stability and geometry of carbazole-pyridine complexes.  International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, 117, e25326.

Chappell, M.A., Miller, L.F., Price, C.L., Middleton, M., Blaustein, G.S., Jackson, L.J., Bednar, A.J., Kennedy, A.J., Steevens, J.A. (2012) Number density considerations in the dispersion-dissolution behavior of engineered silver nanomaterials.  Earth in Evolution 22nd Goldschmidt Conference. Montreal, Canada.

Hill, F.C., Sviatenko L.K., Gorb, L., Okovytyy S.I., Blaustein G.S., Leszczynski J. (2012). DFT M06-2X investigation of alkaline hydrolysis of nitroaromatic compounds. Chemosphere, 88, 635 – 643.

Blaustein, G.S., Chappell, M.A., Mayo, M.L., Hill, F.C. (2011) Is DLVO Theory Relevant to Nanoparticles? Theoretical and Practical Considerations.  Proceedings of the 20th Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry.  Jackson, MS.

Blaustein, G.S., Chappell, M.A. (2011)  Interaction Energies between Spherical Colloidal Particles in a Symmetric Electrolyte Solution.  Wolfram Demonstrations (Project Link)

Blaustein, G.S., Lewis F.D., Burin, A.L. (2010) Kinetics of charge separation in poly(A)-poly(T) DNA hairpins. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 114, 6732 – 6739.

Polishchuk, I.Y., Gozman, M.I., Blaustein, G.S., Burin, A.L. (2010) Interference of guided modes in a two port ring waveguide composed of dielectric nanoparticles. Physical Review E, 81, 026601.

Blaustein, G.S., Hill, F.C., Shrestha, R., Burin, A.L. (2009). The Influence of Counterion Binding on Charge Migration Kinetics in Stilbene-Capped DNA Hairpins. Proceedings of the 18th Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry. Jackson, MS.

Blaustein, G.S. Frederick D. Lewis, Burin, A.L. (2009). The Kinetics of Charge Recombination in DNA Hairpins Controlled by Counterions. International Conference on Computational Science 2009, Part II, LNCS 5545, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 189 – 196.

Blaustein, G.S., Demas, B., Lewis, F.D., Burin, A.L. (2009). Charge Recombination in DNA Hairpins Controlled by Counterions. JACS, 131, 400 – 401.

Blaustein, G.S., Gozman, M.I.; Polishchuk, I.Y., Burin, A.L. (2007). Optical Modes in Linear Arrays of Dielectric Spherical Particles: A Numerical Investigation. 9th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks, 4,136 – 139.

Blaustein, G.S., Gozman, M.I., Samoylova, O.M., Polishchuk, I.Y., Burin, A.L. (2007). Guiding optical modes in chains of dielectric particles. Optics Express, 15, 17380 – 17391.

Burin, A.L., Blaustein, G.S., Samoylova, O.M. (2007). Bound whispering gallery modes in circular arrays of dielectric spherical particles. In A. H. Alexis V. Kudryashov (Ed.), Proceedings of SPIE. 6452. Bellingham, WA: SPIE.

Blaustein, G.S., Burin, A.L. (2007). Optical Modes in Linear Arrays of Dielectric Spherical Particles: A Numerical Investigation. In A. H. Alexis V. Kudryashov (Ed.), Proceedings of SPIE. 6452. Bellingham, WA: SPIE.

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