Address:

124 South Sparks Street

State College

PA 16801 

USA

E-mail: ech@stm1.chem.psu.edu

Date of Birth: 16/03/76

Nationality: British

Sex: Male

Marital Status: Single

2002-Present   Penn State University 

Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Paul Weiss's Group. Low temperature STM studies of single molecule rotational and vibrational properties on surfaces. Fundamental work addressing the ordering and dynamics of small molecules at low temperature. 

1998-2002   Cambridge University

My Ph.D. thesis "Structure, morphology and catalytic behavior of realistic titania, gold/titania and platinum/titania model catalysts" was under the supervision of Professor Richard Lambert. The project involved the use of STM/XPS/TPR to study partial oxidation and hydrogenation of alkenes on model systems.

1994-1998   Oxford University

MChem, 1^st Class with a distinction in the optional exam "Advanced Quantum Mechanics." Final year project involved high resolution laser spectroscopy of free radicals under the supervision of Professor Brown.

A levels: Physics (A), Chemistry (A), Mathematics (A)

GCSEs: 7 grade A’s including science and mathematics

I have given classes in physical chemistry for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd year students from King’s College, Cambridge , 1998-2001. This involved teaching all aspects of physical chemistry to small classes of undergraduates on a weekly basis. I devised a set of questions addressing the key concepts of each week’s lectures for the students to prepare. I graded the answers before every class and determined where the weak points in the students’ understanding lay so I could address these in each session. I also taught revision classes in preparation for exams and produced written assessments of progress every semester. At Penn State I have given lectures on Quantum Mechanics to an honors class.

Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University, Belfast, 2 weeks November 1992. Project involving Chitin extraction from prawn shells.

Organic Chemistry research placement with Prof Boyd, Queen’s University, Belfast, 5 weeks November 1996. Project involving chiral oxidation reactions.

Queen’s College Oxford, Michel Scholar 1996-1998.

Prize for best student seminar in Physical Chemistry, Cambridge 2000.

Fundamental aspects of enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis: a NEXAFS study of methyl pyruvate and (S)-(-)-1-(1_napthyl) ethylamine on Pt{111}. J. M. Bonello, E. C. H. Sykes, R. Lindsay, F. J. Williams, A. K. Santra and R. M. Lambert. Surface Science, 482-485, (2001), 207-214.

The chemistry of sulfoxy species on clean, oxygenated and caesiated Ag{100}: A study of surface reactivity by Fast XPS and TPR. A. K. Santra, D. P. C. Bird, E. C. H. Sykes, F. J. Williams, A. Goldoni, A. Baraldi and R. M. Lambert. J. Phys. Chem. B. 105, (2001), 10062-10068.

Surface composition, morphology and catalytic activity of model polycrystalline titania surfaces. E. C. H. Sykes, M. S. Tikhov and R. M. Lambert. J. Phys. Chem. B. 106, (2002), 7290-7294.

On the switch between selective oxidation and selective hydrogenation of a terminal alkene on well-defined titania surfaces. E. C. H. Sykes, M. S. Tikhov and R. M. Lambert. Cat. Lett. 78, (2002) 7-11.

Nucleation, growth, sintering, mobility and adsorption properties of small gold particles on polycrystalline titania. E. C. H. Sykes, F. J. Williams, M. S. Tikhov and R. M. Lambert. J. Phys. Chem. B. 106, (2002), 5390-5394. 

Quantum size effects in catalysis by TiO₂/platinum: the switch from partial oxidation to partial hydrogenation of styrene. E. C. H. Sykes, M. S. Tikhov and R. M. Lambert. Cat. Lett. 82, (2002) 169-173.

Molecular conformation of styrene on Ag(100): relevance to an understanding of the catalytic epoxidation of terminal alkenes. F. J. Williams, D. P. C. Bird, E. C. H. Sykes A. K. Santra and R. M. Lambert. J. Phys. Chem. B in press.

Epoxidation of styrene on Ag{110}: Oxygen acting as a promoter. D. P. C. Bird, A. K. Santra, E. C. H. Sykes, F. J. Williams and R. M. Lambert. In preparation.

A classical electrophile surface bond evidenced quantum mechanically via tip-induced CS₂ interaction with Friedel Oscillations on Au{111}. E. C. H. Sykes, P. Han and P. S. Weiss. J. Phys. Chem. B in press. 

A comparative scanning tunneling microscopy study of physisorbed linear quadrupolar molecules: C₂N₂ and CS₂ on Au{111} at 4 K. P. Han, E. C. H. Sykes and P. S.  J. Phys. Chem. B in press. 

11^th International Conference on STM and Related Techniques, Vancouver, Canada, July 2001. Oral presentation "Structure, Morphology and Catalytic Behaviour of Realistic Titania and Gold Titania Model Catalysts.

ECOSS, Madrid, Spain, Sept 2000. Poster presentation "Structural and Reactive Studies of a Realistic Gold/Titania Alkene Epoxidation Catalyst"

Symposium on Oxidation Catalysis, Oral presentation by R. M. Lambert "Selective Oxidation with Copper, Silver and Gold Catalysts." Texas A&M University, Texas, May 2001.

UK SPM Meeting, 2000, London

UK SPM Meeting, 2001, Leeds

American Physical Society, Austin , Texas , March 2003. Oral Presentation “A classical electrophile surface bond evidenced quantum mechanically via tip-induced CS₂ interaction with Friedel Oscillations on Au{111}”

In the last 3 years I have acquired data and written papers using wide range of surface science techniques including: STM, XPS, TPR, Auger, LEED, FastXPS and NEXAFS. I have been involved in a lot of team work during my PhD including pressurized situations like the 24 hour use of synchrotron beam time in England and Italy. Teaching undergraduates has given me the ability to clearly communicate scientific ideas, assess the progress of my students and construct their termly reports. I have reviewed papers in my field submitted to the journal Surface Science. This has given me the ability to analyze the worthiness of a paper and comment on improvements needed before its publication.

Over the last 15 years I have rowed competitively, representing my country at U16 level and racing in Boston Mass. with the Oxford University Lightweight Eight. I now play squash for the King’s College 1^st team and enjoy playing 5 a side football with members of my group.

Professor Paul S. Weiss

Davey Laboratory,

Penn State University,

University Park, PA 16802,

USA.

Professor Richard M. Lambert

Chemistry Department,

Cambridge University,

Lensfield Road,

Cambridge, CB2 1EW.

UK.

rml1@cam.ac.uk

phone: + 44 1223 33 6467

Professor John M. Brown,

Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory,

South Parks Road,

Oxford OX1 3QZ.

UK.

john.m.brown@chem.ox.ac.uk

phone: +44 1865 275 403