Our research is focused on two areas of spectroscopic analysis. The first area involves the development of next-generation spectroscopic instrumentation, which will be miniaturized to the point that the instruments will be taken to the samples rather than bringing samples to the laboratory for analysis. In this context, we are working with fiber optics and other optical waveguides to develop miniature chemical and biological sensors for environmental, diagnostic and process control applications.

The second focus area of our research is spectroscopic image analysis. The advent of research grade CCD cameras and 2-dimensional focal plane arrays for the near- and mid-IR regions has opened up a whole new research area. Multidimensional spectroscopic data can be obtained either on micro samples using a microscope or remotely on a macroscopic scale. The goal is to be able to interpret and use this enormous amount of data; thus, we are focusing on pattern recognition methodologies for extracting and displaying the most useful information.