Group Members

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1377-5107

Robert J. McMahon was born in Mendota, Illinois in 1958. He received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1980. He performed undergraduate research with Professor Stanley G. Smith into the mechanism and stereoselectivity of lithium aluminum hydride reduction of ketones. McMahon received a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1985, working with Professor Orville L. Chapman on the mechanisms of carbene rearrangements. From 1985-1988, McMahon investigated excited-state electron transfer as a postdoctoral research associate with Professor Mark S. Wrighton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. McMahon accepted a position on the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988 and was promoted to full professor in 1997. He was named an Associate Editor of the Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2000 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2003.

https://www2.chem.wisc.edu/users/woods

Claude Woods was born March 24, 1940 in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated with a BS in Chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1961. He obtained an AM degree (1962) and then a PhD degree (1965) in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University. He served for two years on active duty as a Lieutenant in the US Naval Reserve (1965-1967), during which time he was an officer instructor in Chemistry at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Chemistry for fifty three years: Assistant Professor (1967-1973), Associate Professor (1973-1977), and Professor (1977-2020), retiring in August, 2020. His major research areas are high resolution spectroscopy, quantum chemistry, astrochemistry, and plasma processing and diagnostics. In 1984 he shared the Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry, awarded by the ACS for the outstanding PhD thesis in Chemistry in the United States, with his graduate student Christopher Gudeman. In 1997 he received the Pharmacia-Upjohn Excellence in Teaching Award from the Department of Chemistry, and in 2013 he received the Undergraduate Mentoring Award in Physical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9385-8078

https://www2.chem.wisc.edu/users/besselman

Brian first came to the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the fall of 1995 as a college freshman and received his B.S. in Chemistry and Chemistry-Secondary Education in December of 2000.  In May 2004, he received an M.S. in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin.  He completed his UW–Madison education with a Chemistry Ph.D. in 2012 on the Computational and Spectroscopic Investigation of Species of Astrochemical Relevance.  During his last two years of graduate school he played an important role in the updating and upgrading of the mm-wave spectrometer used by the group and led the analysis of the pyridazine rotational spectrum.

While in graduate school, Brian collaborated with Nick Hill in the undergraduate organic laboratory to implement computational chemistry as an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum.  This naturally led to Brian’s current position as an organic chemistry instructor and laboratory director at UW–Madison.  His research interests have expanded to include chemical education and curriculum development.  In 2017, he was awarded the Harvey Spangler Award for Technology Enhanced Instruction by the College of Engineering, The Early Career Award by the College of Letters & Science, and the Taylor Teaching Award by the Department of Chemistry.  Since graduating, he has continued to collaborate with Bob and Claude, mentor graduate and undergraduate students in research, and investigate the spectroscopy of several molecules.  He was given the GSFLC mentor award in 2019 for his work with graduate students in the group and teaching assistants in the organic laboratory.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5319-8845

Madeleine received a B.S. in Chemistry from Bucknell University in 2021. During that time, they studied under Dr. Robert Stockland synthesizing and characterizing gold (I) catalysts. Since joining the McMahon group, Madeleine has focused on synthesis of astrochemically relevant molecules, as well as deuteration of molecules for structural determinations by rotational spectroscopy. Outside of research, Madeleine enjoys art, literary criticism, and playing video, board, and tabletop games.

Recent publication:

Masonheimer, C. L.; Atwood, M. G.; Hartzell, S. E.; Reph, E. A.; Pike, R. D.; Stockland, R. A., Jr. Syn-Insertion of Alkynes into Gold–Phosphito Bonds: Stereoselectivity and Reversible Protodeauration. Organometallics 2021, 40 (15), 2546-2556. View Article

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8382-0180

Will received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. During their time there, they worked under Dr. Liam Duffy to design a mass spectrometer-like device capable of separating neutral isomers in the gas phase using a miniaturized stark decelerator coupled to a VMI stack. Will spent the summer of 2022 working with the McMahon group to fit the rotational spectra of astrochemically relevant cyanofurans before coming to call the group home in late November of the same year. Outside of research, Will generally enjoys running, hiking, and karaoke.

Recent publication:

Styers, W. H.; Zdanovskaia, M. A.; Esselman, B. J.; Owen, A. N.; Kougias, S. M.; Billinghurst, B. E.; Zhao, J.; McMahon, R. J.; Woods, R. C.  Millimeter-wave and High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of 3-Furonitrile. J. Phys. Chem. A 2024, ASAP. View Article