College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics California State University, Long Beach
    
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
Dr. Stephen Mezyk

  
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   CSULB >> CNSM >> Chemistry and Biochemistry >> Dr. Stephen Mezyk 11:28:29 PDT Thursday, Oct. 7 2010


Dr. Stephen Mezyk

Dr. Stephen Mezyk

Professor, Physical/Environmental Chemistry

Peterson Hall 2, Room 019
email: smezyk@csulb.edu
(562) 985-4649

B.Sc. Physical Chemistry/Mathematics, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1981
Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1990
Research Summary :
  • 107 refereed publications (see recent CSULB Publications)
  • 132 conference presentations
  • 13 current research students (see Students and Projects)


  • Research Funding at CSULB ($360,141.00) from
  • Research Corporation (2 grants)
  • Water Reuse Foundation (3 grants)
  • Idaho National Laboratory (6 contracts)
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory (1 contract)
  • Argonne National Laboratory (1 contract)
  • Orange County Water District (1 contract)


  • CSULB Student Research Funding ($106,020.00) from
  • Research Corporation (4)
  • Water Reuse Foundation (1)
  • Beckman Scholarships (3)
  • CSULB Women and Philanthropy Scholarships (4)
  • CSULB HHMI program (4)
  • CSULB RISE program (3)
  • CSULB MARC (2)

    Principal courses taught

    CHEM111B - General Chemistry II (Kinetics, Equilibria, Thermodynamics, Electrochemistry)
    CHEM377A Physical Chemistry I (Thermodynamics and Kinetics)
    CHEM377B Physical Chemistry II (Quantum Mechanics, Spectroscopy)

    LINAC system at ND

    Research Interests: Environmental/Analytical/Physical Chemistry

    My major research interests involve using physical and analytical techniques to study free radical reactions in environmental chemistry and biochemistry. Specifically I am concerned with the experimental study of kinetics, energetics, and mechanisms of short-lived (transient) species such as ions, excited species, and radicals in the aqueous and gas/supercritical phases.

    Specific projects that we are currently working on are:


    1. Environmental remediation of contaminated waters. We are interested in using highly energetic radicals such as hydroxyl radicals and hydrated electrons generated directly in water to remove organic chemical contaminants. (more)

    2. Chemistry of cancer. Many chemicals are known or are suspected to cause cancer, however, their reactions and mechanisms under physiological conditions has not been determined. We are interested in how radical reactions are involved in these processes. (more)

    3. Atmospheric ozone depletion chemistry. The radical reactions of both natural and man-made chemicals contribute to the upper-atmosphere ozone depletion chemistry. (more)


    I also have interests/projects in the areas of:

    4. Calculating reaction rate constants in water. For many reactions the rate constants of interest cannot be directly measured. Here we are interested in developing a computational complement to experiment. (more)

    5. Kinetics and mechanisms of small radicals reactions in solution In this project we are interested in how small radicals behave in different solvents. (more)

    6. Supercritical fluid chemistry Of interest here are the reactions of oxidizing radicals formed under high temperature/pressures in planned Gen IV reactors. (more)

    These projects are performed using equipment at CSULB, in conjunction with short visits to Department of Energy National Laboratories (Radiation Laboratory, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, and Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho).

    Please feel free to come by and talk to me about any of these areas if you are interested.


    Updated on 08/26/2009 10:55 AM by smezyk  Printable Version
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