Summer 2001 -- Vol. 18, No. 2

FACES OF PENN STATE

Barbara Garrison
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

Chemist Barbara Garrison provides the Department of Chemistry with a powerful personal and professional presence as a former head of the department and one of its most productive and respected researchers.

Describing Barbara Garrison comes easily for her colleagues because she leaves an unmistakable impression.

“She’s the smartest person I know,” says Nicholas Winograd, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry. “In terms of raw intellectual power, nobody’s even close.”

From another scientist—especially one with regular interactions with colleagues and counterparts across the world—that counts as high praise. Those comments only summarize what scientific organizations and researchers have been saying for years.

The fact that Garrison and Winograd have been married for more than 20 years should not dim the impact of the praise. After all, both rank among the best materials-science chemists in the country and take their work seriously enough to never heap false praise on anyone.

A former head of the Department of Chemistry at Penn State, Garrison has been honored as a Fellow of the American Physical Society and as a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society. Her theoretical contributions, especially her computer models and simulations, have consistently led to cutting-edge experimental designs. She has earned numerous awards for her prowess as a researcher and teacher.

In addition, she brings a well-rounded approach to her science, and to the University. Along with her administrative experience and her active research efforts, Garrison’s common sense and honesty make her an asset in the Department of Chemistry. She appreciates the importance of interactions between theorists and experimentalists. She also pursues her own work while maintaining an understanding of the needs of the department as a whole.

In general, her research group models the reactions and interactions of molecules at surfaces. The group has two emphases. First, they create accurate models that enable direct comparison to experimental data. Second, they want the models to produce microscopic pictures and simulations not available from experimental data.

Specific thrusts of the modeling research focus on laser ablation, which has applications in surgery, mass spectrometry of biological molecules, and thin-film deposition, and energetic particle bombardment of solids, which has applications in doping and depth profiling of semiconductors, mass spectrometry of biological molecules, and erosion of the moons of Saturn. With research providing such diverse areas of potential study, Garrison’s enthusiasm for her work never wanes. Her enthusiasm for Penn State and central Pennsylvania rival that of her work environment.

“It’s nice to have a big department, with so many things happening and so much vibrancy. Professionally, it’s a wonderful setting,” Garrison says. “It’s also nice to live in a community like this. I’m one of those people who really likes Happy Valley for a lot of reasons.”

-- By Steve Sampsell

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