Dear Colleagues,

Please pass the enclosed information about a PhD position at UCL on to any
interested students.

Thank you for your help.

regards,

Wendy Brown

********************
A PhD studentship on the subject of "Surface chemistry in space" is
available to work in the group of Wendy Brown in UCL Chemistry. The start
date for this position is flexible (any time between May – September 2009)
but the position must be filled by 1st April 2009.

The aim of this project is to use surface science techniques to understand
the surface processes that lead to the formation of complex molecular ices
on the surface of dust grains in interstellar space.

Background
An understanding of the chemistry of the star formation process is crucial
to our understanding of the universe in which we live, and may even hold the
key to the origin of life itself. Astronomers have shown that surface
processes on interstellar dust grains have a crucial role to play in the
birth and evolution of stars. In the dense clouds found in the interstellar
medium, dust grains accumulate mantles of molecular ices. In recent years,
it has been shown that these molecular ices must be formed by reactions on
the surface of dust grains, rather than being formed in the gas phase and
freezing out on the grain surface.

The aim of this PhD project is to use surface science techniques to gain a
fundamental understanding of the chemistry that leads to the adsorption,
desorption, formation, and subsequent ultra-violet and electron processing,
of the molecules found in interstellar ices. A combination of surface
infrared spectroscopy, low energy electron diffraction and temperature
programmed desorption will be used to investigate the formation and
processing of small astrophysically relevant molecules on the surface of
water ice. The results of these investigations will be incorporated into
chemical models of the ISM via a collaboration with astronomers in the UCL
department of Physics and Astronomy.

More information about this research can be found on the web at
http://www.chem.ucl.ac.uk/people/brown/
This research forms part of the work of the UCL centre for cosmic chemistry
and physics (http://www.chem.ucl.ac.uk/cosmicdust/)


Applicants should have at least a 2.1 MSci in chemistry, physics or a
related discipline. The funding is only available to UK residents.

The PhD stipend at UCL for DTA students in 2008/9 is £14988 tax free. It is
expected that this stipend will increase in 2009/10.

For further information contact Dr Wendy Brown ([log in to unmask]).

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