Dr. David L. Patrick is Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Research at Western Washington University. He joined Western in 1996 as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry. Prior to Western, he earned a doctorate in Physical Chemistry from the University of Utah under Prof. Thomas P. Beebe, Jr. where he researched liquid crystal films with scanning tunneling microscopy. He then held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge under Dr. Ruth M. Lynden-Bell, where he used molecular dynamics simulation to study structure and forces in confined fluids at interfaces. His research at Western combines theory and experiment to study crystallization in molecular thin films and organized nanomaterials for solar energy.  Patrick has been a visiting faculty researcher at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and the Institutes for Materials Science in Barcelona and Seville.

Research Description

Patrick specializes in surface and materials chemistry, and ordered molecular systems.  His research includes solar energy concentration and conversion, crystallization and growth mechanisms in organic semiconductors, and liquid crystal solvents.

Positions

Professor (Chemistry)
Western Washington University
1996

Education

Ph.D. (Chemistry)
University of Utah
1995