Bard College at Simon's Rock: the Early College

Lecture: Adventures in Optical Spectroscopy

Friday, January 31, 2020

Fisher Science Center - Clark Auditorium


Join us for a lecture entitled "Adventures in Optical Spectroscopy" by Dr. Arthur McClelland '97, Principal Scientist, Center for Nanoscale Systems, Harvard University.

Dr. Arthur McClelland (Simon’s Rock Class of ’97) will talk about the adventures in optical spectroscopy he has had so far in his career. He jokingly refers to his job as “zapping things with lasers and taking pictures of rainbows” which is only a small deviation from the truth. In a talk for a general audience, Arthur will touch on the basics of Raman spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, micro-computed tomography, second harmonic generation microscopy, time-resolved spectroscopy, and more. Interlaced with the science explanations will be stories about some of the more interesting samples he has run across including historic photographs, artificial trachea, diamonds, Neanderthal coprolites, red oak leaves, medieval middle eastern manuscripts, squid pens, lunar dust, Mayan dental inlays, transition metal dichalcogenides, Han dynasty mirrors, and more. 

Arthur is currently a principal scientist at Harvard University’s Center for Nanoscale Systems where he supports more than 500 users annually in the optical spectroscopy and microscopy laboratory. He holds an AA from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, a BS in Engineering Physics from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the University of Michigan. He is also a coauthor of Optical Measurements for Scientists and Engineers.

Free and open to the public.