Professor Knee’s expertise is in the area of Chemical Physics in which a variety of spectroscopic methods are applied to characterize molecules in the gas phase.   These methods provide insight into molecular behavior and can be used to study various aspects of bonding and dynamics in simple reactive systems.  Recent studies have focussed on hydrogen bonding interactions and how intramolecular hydrogen bonding can influence the strength and structure of intermolecular hydrogen bonding. 

Professor Knee received his BA degree in Chemistry from Binghamton University where his interest in Electronic Spectroscopy was fostered by working in the group of the eminent spectroscopist Keith Innes.  He then attended Stony Brook University and received his PhD working in the group of Phil Johnson on early developments in the field of Multiphoton Ionization Spectroscopy (MPI).  The expertise in these methods was then applied at CalTech as a post-doc with Ahmed Zewail, where ultrafast dynamics were studies using MPI and related methods.  Professor Zewail later received the Nobel prize for related work.