Amy S. Mullin is an American chemist and professor at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. She is a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

and the

Optical Society of America Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

. Her research focuses on

molecular dynamics Molecular dynamics (MD) is a computer simulation method for analyzing the Motion (physics), physical movements of atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a fixed period of time, giving a view of the dynamics ( ...

Education

Amy S. Mullin has a B.A. in chemistry from

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

(1985) and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the

University of Colorado, Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

(in 1991 with W. Carl Lineberger). She was an

AAUW The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,00 ...

American Postdoctoral Fellow at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, working with George W. Flynn (1992–1994).

Research

Mullin uses time-resolved laser

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

to investigate how energy is used in chemical processes and molecular collisions. This includes transient spectroscopy of collisions, where molecules are excited to very high energy states with pulsed lasers, and studied with time-resolved high-resolution optical absorption in order to investigate the relationship between molecular structure and collision dynamics; driving chemical reactions with vibrational energy, where high-resolution optical probing is used to investigate how chemical reactions are affected by large amounts of vibrational energy of the reacting molecules at a quantum-state resolved level; and spinning molecules into reactive states, using ultrafast lasers to investigate molecules in the presence of strong fields applied in short pulses of time. Mullin developed a high-power optical centrifuge to generate molecules in high rotational angular momentum states in order to investigate the chemistry and dynamics of rotationally activated molecules. The optical centrifuge work is primarily focused on studying "rotationally-induced dissociation and isomerization and the coupling of vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom in high energy states".

Awards

* Fellow of the

(2018) * Creative Educator Award, College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Science (2011) * Fellow of the

(2009) * General Research Board Semester Award (2008) from the University of Maryland * Elected Fellow of the

(2006) * Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award (1999) * American Young Leader of the

American Swiss Foundation The American Swiss Foundation is a private non-profit foreign policy organization headquartered in New York. It was founded in 1945 "to preserve and strengthen the historic friendship between the United States and Switzerland". Conference The main ...

(1998) *

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER award is the most prestigious award presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States Federal Government to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through rese ...

(1996) * Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (1996) * Clare Boothe Luce Professorship (1994) * American Association of University Women Postdoctoral Fellow (1993) * Elected to

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...

(1991)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullin, Amy Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) University of Maryland, College Park faculty 20th-century American chemists 21st-century American chemists American women chemists Fellows of the American Physical Society University of California, Santa Cruz alumni University of Colorado Boulder alumni Fellows of Optica (society) Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science American physical chemists Women physical chemists Women in optics 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists