James M. LoBue
Associate Professor
Physical Chemistry

B.A. Carleton College (1978)
Ph.D. Wesleyan University (1986)
Postdoctoral Appointment, Yale University (1986-1988)

Office: Chemistry & Nursing Rm 2214
Phone: (912) 478-0398
E-mail: jlobue@georgiasouthern.edu

Jim LoBue earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College in 1978 and his PhD from Wesleyan University (in Connecticut not Georgia) in 1986.  His graduate work involved the study of van der Waals molecules using microwave spectroscopy in a molecular beam under the direction of Dr. Stewart Novick.  He then worked as a post doctoral associate at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen D. Colson (now of Batelle Northwest Laboratories) where he studied pyrolysis in a modified pulsed jet expansion using VUV photoionization and TOF mass spectrometry.  From the fall of 1988 through the summer of 1993 he was a faculty member in the Chemistry Department at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and in the fall of 1993 he and his family (wife Nan, daughter Audrey, and son Ernie) arrived in Statesboro.  He has been a faculty member at Georgia Southern ever since.  Except for one year he has taught physical chemistry every year since 1988.

Besides teaching Physical Chemistry I and II, he has taught Principles of Chemistry I and II, Research Methods in Chemistry, and Molecular Visualization.  The last two courses represent new courses in which Dr. LoBue was either the principle designer (the latter) or co-designer (the former).  Research Methods is a course required of every chemistry major at Georgia Southern and Molecular Visualization is a course taught usually in the summer to high school science teachers.  Recently, Dr. LoBue helped develop a new "Special Topics" course for high school teachers, taught for the first time by his colleagues Allison Dobson and Brian Koehler this past summer (2005).

In the area of research, Dr. LoBue is involved in two very different projects.
His students at Georgia Southern investigate the photochemical properties of tetra-substituted porphyrins.  These molecules have properties that make them candidates for a type of cancer therapy called photodynamic therapy.  This work involves the use of various spectrometers available in the Chemistry Department, principally the ISS-K2 Phase Modulated Spectrofluorometer.  Most recently, his students: Mark Wehunt and Amber Everette presented their work at the annual meeting of the Georgia Academy of Science at Gordon College. During the past two summers (2004 and 2005) Dr. LoBue has been working in the laboratory of Dr. John Larese at the University of Tennessee.  This work involves the study of highly uniform surfaces by high resolution volumetric adsorption.  His current project is to understand the interaction of ethylene with an MgO surface.

Courses Taught

  • Chem1145 Principles of Chemistry I
  • Chem1146 Principles of Chemistry II
  • Chem2031 Introduction to Research Methods
  • Chem3441 Physical Chemistry I
  • Chem3442 Physical Chemistry II
  • Chem7031 Molecular Visualization in High School Science

Selected Publications

  • James M. LoBue, et. al., The Advanced High School Chemistry Exam, 2004. This exam is published under the aegis of the American Chemical Society Exam Institute.
  • James M. LoBue, An Introduction to Huckel Theory, Journal of Chemical Education, 2002 79(11) 1378.

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