Email:
Phone:
503.943.8033
Address:
Swindells Hall 108
Professor Steven G. Mayer earned his Ph.D. in 1997 at Oregon State University working in Joseph W. Nibler’s group and did his postdoctoral work at the University of Washington in Philip J. Reid’s group. He began his academic career in 1999 at Susquehanna University and joined the University of Portland in 2002. Professor Mayer is an experimental physical chemist and teaches courses in general and physical chemistry. His research involves using various spectroscopic techniques to understand atomic and molecular structure. Current projects employ novel improvements to traditional experiments for Physical Chemistry Laboratory. These experiments are essential to the development of knowledge and skill in physical chemistry students and the Mayer group uses cutting-edge technology and data analysis techniques to greatly enhance those skills. His work has been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Chemical Physics Letters, Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, Journal of Chemical Education and Vibrational Spectroscopy among others. In addition to his laboratory work, Professor Mayer is working on a question at the confluence of science and religion; specifically, What did the ancients know? How did they view the cosmos? Can we learn from them new (old) ways of seeing the cosmos in which we are immersed? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary at the word cosmos states the following.
Cosmos often simply means "universe". But the word is generally used to suggest an orderly or harmonious universe, as it was originally used by Pythagoras in the 6th century B.C. Thus, a religious mystic may help put us in touch with the cosmos, and so may a physicist. The same is often true of the adjective cosmic: Cosmic rays (really particles rather than rays) bombard us from outer space, but cosmic questions come from human attempts to find order in the universe. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmos
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
