Introductory Chemistry Essentials

Nivaldo Tro is currently chair of the department of chemistry at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where he has been a faculty member since 1990. He received his B.A degree in chemistry from Westmont College and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University, for work on developing and using optical techniques to study the adsorption and desorption of molecules to and from surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum. He then went on to the University of California at Berkeley, where he did post-doctoral research on ultra-fast reaction dynamics in solution. Since coming to Westmont, Professor Tro has been awarded grants from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, from Research Corporation, and from the National Science Foundation to study the dynamics of various processes occurring in thin adlayer films adsorbed on dielectric surfaces. Honored as Westmont's outstanding teacher of the year in 1994, 2001, and 2008, he was also named the college's outstanding researcher of the year in 1996. Professor Tro lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Ann, and their four children, Michael, Alicia, Kyle, and Kaden. For leisure, he enjoys reading, writing, snowboarding, biking, and other outdoor activities with his family.