Mr. Jacob T. Stewart

Professional Information

Graduate Student: Physical Chemistry
Project: High-resolution spectrum of C₆₀
B.S., Brigham Young University, 2008

Bio

I was born in Oregon, but I've lived in eight different states (and two years in the Philippines) in my life. I graduated from high school in Bullhead City, Arizona and then went on to Brigham Young University to study Chemistry. I graduated magna cum laude in 2008 with a B.S. degree and came to the University of Illinois. While at BYU I researched with Adam Woolley on using DNA in nanofabrication schemes. I also enjoy reading and writing, and I have just begun a science-based blog called Seeds of Science.

Current Research

I'm interested in using quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) to perform high-resolution spectroscopy on interesting molecules. QCLs are a fairly new kind of laser that is allowing laser spectroscopy techniques to be applied in the mid-infrared, allowing spectroscopists to probe vibrations of molecular species. Currently, I'm working with Brain Brumfield to obtain a high resolution spectrum of buckminsterfullerene (C₆₀) so that an astronomical search can be performed for this highly symmetric and highly stable molecule. I'm also interested in obtaining a high resolution spectrum of the protonated water dimer (H₅O₂⁺) which could better help us understand the fundamentals of proton transport in aqueous solutions.

Talks

B. E. Brumfield, J. T. Stewart, M. D. Escarra, C. Gmachl and B. J. McCall
"The Influence of Free-Running FP-QCL Frequency Jitter on Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy of C₆₀"
Sixty-Fourth International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2009.

Posters

B. E. Brumfield, J. T. Stewart and B. J. McCall
"Mid Infrared Continuous Wave Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer for Acquisition of the High-Resolution Spectrum of C₆₀"
Second Midwest Astrochemistry Meeting, University of Illinois, 2009.

Pre-McCall Group Publications

J. T. Stewart, H. A. Becerril, W. Yang, M. G. Larsen, and A. T. Woolley "DNA-templated nanowires as sacrificial materials for creating nanocapillaries" Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering (2008), 7035, 70350H.