Products created through chemistry – such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and solar and fuel cells – play critical roles in energy independence, commerce, manufacturing and human health. For this reason, it’s important to understand the mechanisms of a chemical reaction – the transformative interaction of different molecules. Because less than 1 percent of molecules are reactants, it’s often difficult to pinpoint the trigger of a chemical change.

Blum will discuss a fluorescence technique she developed that makes reactive molecules glow, allowing chemists to see the reaction. Her lab seeks to better understand reactions so they can be designed more efficiently, produce fewer toxic byproducts and use less energy.

Blum earned her bachelor’s at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and her doctorate at UC Berkeley, where she was a National Science Foundation graduate fellow. She was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School before coming to UCI in 2006. In 2008, Blum received NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development award.