Professor T. Randall Lee

T. Randall Lee, Ph.D. is Cullen Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, University of Houston.
 
His research can be divided into six general areas: (1) selectively fluorinated organic thin films, (2) complex organic interfaces with controlled local composition, structure, and function, (3) biologically active interfaces, (4) nanoparticle growth and manipulation, (5) biopolymers and conducting polymers, and (6) polymerization catalyst development. The common thread that ties all of the research areas together is the use of synthesis be it organic, inorganic, organometallic, or solid-state to prepare new materials for technological applications.
 
Progress in each of the areas requires the successful development and integration of a wide range of research skills, starting with the synthesis of new materials, followed by the collection and analysis of data, and ending with the oral and written communication of the results.
 
As a natural consequence of this integrated approach, students departing from his group are equipped with an unusually broad range of research capabilities. For example, analytical instrumentation commonly employed by the group includes IR, NMR, and UV-vis spectroscopies, GC, GC/MS, HPLC, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), dynamic light scattering (DLS), contact angle goniometry, ellipsometry, polarization modulation reflection absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Members of his group also gain experience using other specialized analytical instrumentation in collaborative projects with other research groups.
 
Randy coauthored Rise of the Nanomachine: The Evolution of a Revolution in Medicine, Fullerene Pipes, Formation and Adsorption of Clusters of Gold Nanoparticles onto Functionalized Silica Nanoparticle Surfaces, The Wetting of Monolayer Films Exposing Ionizable Acids and Bases, Interface Dipoles Arising from Self-Assembled Monolayers on Gold: UV-Photoemission Studies of Alkanethiols and Partially Fluorinated Alkanethiols, Experimental and Theoretical Studies of the Effect of Mass on the Dynamics of Gas/Organic-Surface Energy Transfer, Nanomanufacturing Strategy and System Design for Nanoscale Patterned Magnetic Recording Medium, and Preparation and Characterization of Gold Nanoshells Coated with Self-Assembled Monolayers.
 
Randy earned his B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) from Rice University in 1985, his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1991, and was a NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech from 1991 to 1993.