Heather Allen

Heather Allen is a Full Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Pathology. Her research focuses on interfacial phenomena, molecular organization at aqueous interfaces, and applications in environmental and biomedical systems. She holds affiliations with the College of Arts and Sciences and the NSF-supported Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE).

Education: B.S. in Chemistry (University of California, Irvine, 1993), Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (UC Irvine, 1997, advised by Sherwood Rowland and John Hemminger). Postdoctoral training at the University of Oregon (Geraldine Richmond group). Joined Ohio State in 2000.

Research interests include ion pairing, hydration dynamics, and surface chemistry of atmospheric aerosols, cell membranes, and biological interfaces. Her lab employs advanced spectroscopic techniques like vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG), second harmonic generation (SHG), and Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). Key achievements include pioneering the BB-VSFG system for liquid surface analysis and elucidating mechanisms of ion binding at aqueous interfaces.

Recent article trends emphasize interdisciplinary applications of surface chemistry to environmental science (e.g., aerosol modeling, nanoplastics), biomedical diagnostics (FTIR biomarkers), and materials science. Publications span 150+ peer-reviewed articles across JACS, Langmuir, and Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

• Awards: 2022 ACS Langmuir Award, Humboldt Research Award, Sloan Fellowship, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar
• Advising: Mentored over 30 graduate students, many now in academia (e.g., TU Dresden) and industry (e.g., Battelle, Procter & Gamble)
• Grants: NSF, DOE-BES, NASA funding totaling $15M+ for projects on aerosol chemistry and interfacial phenomena

Labs/Teams: Allen Group (Ohio State), collaborations with RESOLV Solvation Science Institute (Germany), and CAICE center. Current projects include AI-driven analysis of infrared spectra for environmental and biomedical applications.