Welcome to the Blake Group!

Complexity is a hallmark of the natural world. For cosmochemical and geochemical systems this complexity often extends to the molecular level. During the past decade tremendous strides have been made in the chemical sciences as advances in microelectronics, lasers, materials science, etc. have all converged to produce instrumentation of unparalleled speed, sensitivity, and flexibility. For the most part these advances have been driven by technological considerations, but the application of state-of-the-art chemical techniques to astrophysics and to the earth and planetary sciences holds the potential to revolutionize the analysis of complex natural materials.

The Blake group applies innovative spectroscopic tools to investigate the chemical and physical processes that operate in natural environments ranging from the interstellar medium to the heart of living cells. The ultimate goal of this work is a detailed understanding of the evolution of molecular diversity from atoms in the interstellar medium or from simple chemical precursors in laboratory syntheses to complex molecules and aggregates throughout the solar system, in life, and in the devices utilized by man. We carry out both remote sensing and laboratory studies, and we are actively developing new spectrometers across the Terahertz (THz, 30-1000 μm) region of the electromagnetic spectrum, with active research in three major scientific areas.

Recent Group News

July 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Olivia Wilkins for recieving the 2024 ACS Astrochemistry Dissertation Award! This award selects one outstanding thesis in the field of astrochemistry a year to highlight the advances of the field at large. To learn more about Olivia's work that won her this award, stop by her invited talk at the ACS Spring 2025 National Meeting. Congrats Olivia!

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June 2024: The Blake group would like to welcome WAVE fellow Elizabeth Ballman who is joining us for the 2024 summer term from Wayne State University.

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May 2024: Congratulations to Evie for sucessfully submitting her Master's thesis!

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February 2024: Congratulations to Haw-Wei, Albert, and Griffin for their recent publication in JOSA B.

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January 2024: Congratulations to Haw-Wei for successfully defending his thesis! His next stop in his research career will be at Sandia National Laboraties in Livermore. Congrats Dr. Lin!

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August 2023: Congratulations to Kyle for successfully defending his thesis! Upon completing his work in the Blake group he will be moving on to work for The Aerospace Corporation. Congrats Dr. Virgil!

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May 2023: Congratulations to Evie for sucessfully passing her candidacy exam!

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May 2023: Congratulations to Evan for sucessfully submitting his Master's thesis!

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April 2023: Congratulations to Tomislav for his recent publication in Nature Communications titled "Two-Dimensional infrared-Raman spectroscopy as a probe of water's tetrahedrality". You can find the full text here

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March 2023: Congratulations to Sadie for successfully defending her thesis! Upon completing her work in the Blake group she will be moving on to work for Mckinsey & Company consulting. A round of applause for Dr. Dutton!

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March 2023: Congratulations to Jax for passing his Candidacy exam!

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January 2023: Congratulations to Sadie for her recent publication in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics which secured the inside cover art for the issue. Check it out here.

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November 2022: Congratulations to Sadie for passing her proposition exam!

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November 2022: Congratulations to Haw-Wei for his recent publication in PRL. Check it out here.

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September 2022: The Blake group welcomes Dr. Satoshi Kusaba, a visiting professor from the National University of Yokohama in Japan.

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August 2022: Dr. Wilkins' recent publication in the JPC A is highlighted with her artwork adorning the cover. To read more, you can find the full text here.

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June 2022: Clara Ross joins the Blake group as a visiting SURF student from Vassar College.

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May 2022: Cam successfully defends his Ph.D. Congratulations, Dr. Buzard!

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April 2022: The Blake group welcomes Evie Harel as its newest member!

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December 2021: Olivia successfully defends her Ph.D. Congratulations, Dr. Wilkins!

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December 2021: The Blake group welcomes three new members: one postdoctoral fellow, Tomislav Begušić, and two new graduate students, Evan Mastin, and Jax Dallas.

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July 2021: Olivia and Dr. Blake recently published the book on Astrochemistry with the ACS In Focus series. To read more you can find the full text here.

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