Rate My Professor Brian Woodfield

Brian Woodfield is a Professor of Chemistry at Brigham Young University (BYU) in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, with a focus on physical chemistry. A BYU alumnus, he received his B.S. in Chemistry from BYU in 1986 and M.S. in Physical Chemistry in 1988, followed by a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, where he conceived the idea for Virtual ChemLab. He joined the BYU faculty as an assistant professor and has advanced to full professor. His career includes significant contributions to both research and chemical education.

Woodfield's research interests include chemical thermodynamics, low-temperature specific heat measurements, solid-state physics, materials physics, nanotechnology, nanomaterials, solid-state and nanoscale synthesis, catalysis, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and catalysts, and chemical education. In his lab, he studies industrially important materials such as superconductors, magnets, and nanocrystalline materials using specific-heat measurements from 0.5 K to 400 K. He also works on the synthesis and characterization of alumina and titania catalyst supports and Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. These efforts are supported by funding from the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and private companies. Key publications include "High Purity Anatase TiO2 Nanocrystals: Near Room-Temperature Synthesis, Grain Growth Kinetics, and Surface Hydration Chemistry" (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2005), "Critical examination of heat capacity measurements made on a Quantum Design physical property measurement system" (Cryogenics, 2003), "Specific Heat of UPt3: Evidence for Unconventional Superconductivity" (1989), "Heat capacities and thermodynamic functions of TiO2 anatase and rutile: Analysis of phase stability" (American Mineralogist, 2009), and "Energy crossovers in nanocrystalline zirconia" (Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 2005). In education, he created and directs the Virtual ChemLab Project and Y Science Laboratories, realistic simulations for general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, physical science, and biology, licensed to Pearson Education and used by approximately 1,000,000 students per year. This work earned the 2008 Pirelli "Internetional" Award and has improved student performance in BYU organic chemistry labs by 30 percent. Additionally, Woodfield founded Cosmas, Inc., a startup producing metal oxide nanoparticles, and has been featured in a PBS Terra mini-documentary on supercooling water properties.