Catherine Jahncke

Catherine L Jahncke, Hayward Associate Professor of Physics at St. Lawrence University, received her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University and her B.S. from Auburn University.  Her research interests are in optics and optical properties of materials.  She uses techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, ellipsometery, and near-field scanning optical microscopy to characterize materials.  Her current research projects include the following:  the size effect on the properties of barium titanate, a piezoelectric and birefringent material with many applications including super capacitors; the polarization properties of nacre (a collaboration with Dr Galvez and Metzler at Colgate); and heterobimetallic compounds, materials with applications in artificial photosynthesis (a collaboration with Adam Hill in Chemistry at SLU).

Dr. Jahncke taught in the St. Lawrence Physics department from 1995 to 2024.