Geoffrey M. Bowers

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Department Chair

Geoffrey M. Bowers

Biography

Dr. Bowers is an educator and researcher who has been teaching physical and environmental chemistry at primarily undergraduate institutions since 2009. His research focuses on using solid-state NMR and other spectroscopic, thermal analysis, diffraction, and microscopic methods to study the physics and chemistry of solid-fluid interfaces.  His work lives at the interface of energy and the environment and stresses the importance of integrating spectroscopy and molecular modeling.  Bowers specializes in the chemistry and physics of clay minerals and has made important foundational contributions to understanding clay-water, clay-supercritical carbon dioxide, and clay-supercritical methane interactions.  As a teacher, Bowers emphasizes the value of and advocates for high impact student-faculty co-learning experiences such as undergraduate research, employs a variety of student-centered techniques in the classroom to suite the needs of individual cohorts, emphasizes real-world applications of content knowledge, and stresses authentic assessment and teamwork/professional skill development inside and outside the classroom. In addition to publishing over 40 research papers, Bowers is the coauthor of the book Understanding Chemistry through Cars, an original text published by CRC Press in November 2014 that presents fundamental chemical concepts through the context of the automobile.  Dr. Bowers dedication to students led to his receipt of multiple teaching and research awards.

For more information on Dr. Bowers and his scholarly work, teaching innovations, and research group, visit his professional website.

Education, Employment, & Publications

Learn more about my education, employment, and publications on ORCID.org

Areas of Research Specialization

  • Physical Geochemistry
  • Solid-state NMR
  • Solid-fluid Interfaces
  • Pollutant Transport and Remediation
  • Supercritical Fluids in the Subsurface
  • Smectite clays

Areas of Teaching Specialization

  • Physical Chemistry
  • Environmental Chemistry/Geochemistry

Education

  • B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, 2002
  • Ph.D. in Chemistry at The Pennsylvania State University, 2006

Awards

  • Norton T. Dodge Award for Scholarly Achievement by a Junior Faculty Member
  • Steven Muller Distinguished Professor of the Sciences, 2022-2025