Dr. Douberly is an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia.  His research group has made significant contributions to the development of laser spectroscopic techniques designed for the helium nanodroplet isolation method.  Continuous, effusive pyrolysis sources of molecular radicals and carbenes have been optimized for doping helium nanodroplets, and the Douberly group has reported several spectroscopic studies that describe the fundamental chemical physics of these helium-solvated systems.  The low temperature (0.4 K) and rapid cooling associated with helium droplets provides a perfectly suited medium to isolate and spectroscopically probe these transient species.  Single and double resonance infrared laser spectroscopies are used to probe the structural and dynamical properties of these systems, often with sufficiently high resolution to resolve rotational fine structure.  Moreover, the Douberly group has leveraged the sequential pick-up technique developed by Scoles to investigate the mechanisms associated with several key elementary atmospheric and combustion reactions carried out inside the low temperature helium droplets.  The rational for these studies is that spectroscopic measurements carried out downstream from the pick-up zones are capable of identifying the structural configuration of key intermediates along the reaction path, along with the associated product branching ratios. 

                  Gary E. Douberly received a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Central Florida in 2000.  He received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006 under the direction of Roger E. Miller and Tomas Baer, where he contributed to the early development of the Helium Nanodroplet Isolation method.  Following postdoctoral work with Michael A. Duncan at the University of Georgia, he began his faculty appointment at the University of Georgia in 2008.  Professor Douberly has received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, the Early Career Award from the Department of Energy Office of Science, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Journal of Physical Chemistry Lectureship Award.