J. D. Tovar joined the JHU faculty in 2005 and established a research group that is broadly interested in the synthesis and investigation of organic materials with extended pi-electron conjugation.  These types of materials are currently receiving significant attention due to their useful properties akin to those of traditional semiconductors or metals such as luminescence, electrochromism and light harvesting. We use molecular design as a tool to predict, control and seek a better understanding of energy transport processes through these organic electronic materials to enable their employment in emerging applications ranging from inexpensive flexible circuitry and devices to active biomedical materials.  Research projects in our group provide students with extensive experience in organic synthesis (aromatic, polymer and peptide chemistries) along with optical and electrochemical characterization techniques.  You can learn more specifics about these projects on our group webpage.