Katherine Cimatu

Katherine Leslee Asetre Cimatu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Ohio University. Her academic journey began in 2000; she received her bachelor's degree in Chemistry at the University of the Philippines Diliman as a Philippine Department of Science and Technology scholar. In 2008, she obtained her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Houston under the guidance of Prof. Steven Baldelli. Then, she joined Prof. Paul Cremer's research group as a postdoctoral associate at Texas A&M University in 2008. She spent two and a half years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Robert Shaw for her second postdoctoral fellowship. She started 2013 as an Assistant Professor and obtained her tenure in 2019. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in physical chemistry and was recognized as a finalist for the Presidential Teacher Award last year. She has been serving as the Graduate Chair of the department since July 2022, and last year, she was named Ohio University's Roenigk Chair in chemistry.

Prof. Cimatu’s current research interests are very interdisciplinary, focusing on investigating the chemical and physical properties of, but not limited to, surfactants, polymers, transition metal complexes, and doped-graphene quantum dots. She uses sum frequency generation spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and other techniques to examine the surface chemistry of various chemical systems. Her work aims to advance knowledge in chemical structure and dynamics, utilizing experimental techniques and integrating computational approaches to enhance our understanding of these systems. Currently, she has 6 Ph.D. students and 3 undergraduate students in her group and works with multiple internal and external collaborators. Her research has resulted in numerous independent and collaborative publications, including those in the Journal of Colloids and Interface Science. She is also currently serving as an associate editor for MRS Communications. She has also been actively involved in scientific outreach programs working with K-12 students.