Professor Education: B.Sc., from Beijing University (1987); Ph.D., from University of Waterloo, Canada (1993); PDF, Department of Chemistry, Cornell University (1995) Awards: NSERC Doctoral Thesis Prize (1993); NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (1994); Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2000); Thomas T. Sugihara Young Faculty research Award (2001) Email: wei.kong@oregonstate.edu Office: Gilbert Hall 004 Phone: (541) 737-6714 Fax: (541) 737-2062 Research group web site: http://www.chemistry.oregonstate.edu/personalhomepages/kongwei.htm

Our primary focus is electronic spectroscopy of gas phase biologically related materials and nanomaterials. We perform two types of measurements, including polarization spectroscopy of oriented species and threshold ionization spectroscopy. The information we obtain includes the direction of the transition dipole therefore the movement of electrons upon UV irradiation, and the mechanism of electron transfer. For biologically related materials such as DNA bases and amino acids, this information is directly related to UV induced damages. From electronic and vibrational spectroscopy of nanomaterials, such as GaN quantum dots, we study the fundamental relationship between the electronic and geometric structures, their effect on the properties of the material, and the influence of size on these properties

Representative Publications

• Zero Kinetic Energy Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Tetracene Using Laser Desorption for Vaporization, J. Chem. Phys., 2008, 128.
• Electronic Polarization Spectroscopy of Metal Phthalocyanine Chloride Compounds in Superfluid Helium Droplets, J. Chem. Phys., 2007, 127.
• Conformational Identification of Tryptamine Embedded in Superfluid Helium Droplets Using Electronic Polarization Spectroscopy, J. Chem. Phys., 2006, 125.
• Resonantly Enhanced Multiphoton Ionization and Zero Kinetic Energy Photoelectron Spectroscopy of 2-Indanol Conformers, J. Chem. Phys., 2006, 124.
• Nonlinear optical crystal Y_xLa_ySc_z(BO₃)₄ (x + y + z = 4), Chem. Mater., 2005, 17 (10), 2687-2692.
• Two-Color Resonantly Enhanced Multiphoton Ionization and Zero-Kinetic-Energy Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Jet-Cooled Indan, J. Chem. Phys., 2005, 122.
• A Theoretical and Experimental Study of Water Complexes of m-Aminobenzoic Acid MABA·(H₂O)_n (n = 1 and 2), J. Phys. Chem. A, 2005, 109 (5), 748-753.
• Structure of Gas Phase Radical Cation of 1,3,6,8-Tetraazatricyclo[4.4.1.1^3,8] Dodecane Determined from Zero Kinetic Energy Photoelectron Spectroscopy, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2005, 109 (6), 959-961.
• Observation of rotamers of m-aminobenzoic acid: Zero kinetic energy photoelectron and hole-burning resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy, J. Chem. Phys., 2004, 121 (17), 8321-8328.
• Polarization spectroscopy of gaseous tropolone in a strong electric field, J. Chem. Phys., 2004, 121 (10), 4577-4584.
• Zero kinetic energy photoelectron spectroscopy of p-amino benzoic acid, J. Chem. Phys., 2004, 121 (8), 3533-3539.
• Resonantly enhanced two photon ionization and zero kinetic energy spectroscopy of jet-cooled 4-aminopyridine, J. Chem. Phys., 2004, 120 (16), 7497-7504.
• Photophysics of Methyl-Substituted Uracils and Thymines and Their Water Complexes in the Gas Phase, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2004, 108 (6), 943-949.
• Decay Pathways of Thymine and Methyl-Substituted Uracil and Thymine in the Gas Phase, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2003, 107 (26), 5145-5148.
• ZEKE and MATI spectroscopy of Nax(NH3)n (n = 1, 2, and 4) complexes, J. Chem. Phys., 2002, 117, 9306.
• Symmetry properties of electronically excited states of nitroaromatic compounds, J. Chem. Phys., 2002, 117 (19), 8670-8675.
• Studies of electronic properties of medium and large molecules oriented in a strong uniform electric field, International Journal of Modern Physics B: Condensed Matter Physics, Statistical Physics, Applied Physics, 2001, 15, 3471.