James G. Anderson

The Anderson research group addresses three domains within physical chemistry:

(1) chemical reactivity viewed from the microscopic perspective of electron structure, molecular orbitals and reactivities of radical-radical and radical-molecule systems;

(2) chemical catalysis sustained by free radical chain reactions that dictate the macroscopic rate of chemical transformation in the Earth's stratosphere and troposphere;

(3) mechanistic links between chemistry, radiation, and dynamics in the atmosphere that control climate.

Studies are carried out both in the laboratory, wherein elementary processes can be isolated, and within natural systems, in which reaction networks and transport patterns are dissected by establishing cause and effect using simultaneous, in situ detection of free radicals, reactive intermediates, and long-lived tracers.