Stephanie Homan

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Chemistry

I knew right away I wanted to be a chemistry major as an undergraduate at Berry College, a small liberal arts college in the mountains of north Georgia. It wasn’t until my junior year I realized I wanted to teach chemistry at a liberal arts school, where I could build lasting relationships with my students in the classroom, the research laboratory, and the greater college community. My experiences in graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and as a postdoctoral research assistant at Northwestern University shaped me into the scientist I am now, and it is great to be back at a small liberal arts college.

My research interests lie at the interface of physical, inorganic, and materials chemistry. Students in my research group make semiconductor nanocrystalline quantum dots and study their unique optical properties using instruments made in the group. The quantum dot systems will be used as florescent tags in biological imaging and photovoltaic devices. I arrived at McDaniel College in 2018, and have taught Foundations of Physical Chemistry, General Chemistry, Materials Mimicking Nature First Year Seminar, and Senior Capstone courses.

Education

2013: Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2008: B.S. in Chemistry, Berry College

Research Interests

Synthesis and characterization of quantum dots
Inorganic fluorophores for solar and biomedical imaging applications
Ultrafast spectroscopy such as transient absorption and time-resolved emission
Energy and electron transfer dynamics
Molecular dynamics at the inorganic-organic interface

Recent Courses

CHE 3307: Foundations of Physical Chemistry
CHE 1103: General Chemistry I
FYS 1242: Materials Mimicking Nature

Selected Publications

(*denotes equal contribution)

*Bettis Homan, S.; *Sanwan, V. K.; Balla, I.; Bergeron, H.; Weiss, E. A.; Hersam, M. Ultrafast exciton dissociation and long-lived charge separation in a photovoltaic pentacene-MoS2 van der Waals heterojunction. Nano Lett., 2017, 17, 164-169.
*Lee, K.-R.; *Bettis Homan, S.; Kodaimati, M.; Schatz, G.C.; Weiss, E.A. Near-Quantitative Yield for Transfer of Near-Infrared Excitons within Solution-Phase Assemblies of PbS Quantum Dots. J. Phys. Chem. C, 2016, 120, 22186-22194.
*Harris, R.D.; *Bettis Homan, S.; Kodaimati, M.; He, C.; Nepomnyashchii, A.B.; Swenson, N.K.; Lian, S.; Calzada, R.; Weiss, E.A. Electronic Processes within Quantum Dot-Molecule Complexes. Chemical Reviews, 2016, 116, 12865-12919.
Bettis, S. E.; Hanson, K.; Wang, L.; Gish, M. K.; Concepcion, J. J.; Fang, Z.; Meyer, T. J.; Papanikolas, J. M. Photophysical Characterization of a Chromophore/Water Oxidation Catalyst Containing a Layer-by-Layer Assembly on Nanocrystalline TiO2 Using Ultrafast Spectroscopy. J. Phys. Chem. A, 2014, 118, 10301-10308.
*Wilger, D. J.; *Bettis, S. E.; Materese, C. K.; Minakova, M.; Papoian, G. A.; Papanikolas, J. M.; Waters, M. L. Tunable Energy Transfer Rates via Control of Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Structure of a Coiled Coil Peptide Scaffold. Inorganic Chemistry. 2012, 51 (21), 11324- 11338.

Clubs and community involvement

Chemistry Liaison for the Pre-medical Studies Committee

Awards and Honors

Future Faculty Fellowship Award (2013)
Kirbo Scholar Research Fellowship (2006-2008)

“I am passionate about creating an open classroom environment where any student regardless of their success in coursework feels welcome and engaged.”

Stephanie Homan Assistant Professor of Chemistry