Mark Kobrak
Associate Professor
Chemistry
Location: 3313 Ingersoll Hall
Phone: 718.951.5758
Fax: 718.951.4607
Email:
Mark Kobrak's Web site
Mark Kobrak was appointed to the faculty of Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in September 2001. Prior to that, Kobrak was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame and Pennsylvania State University, with Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Department of Chemistry (January 2000-August 2001); and at the University of Houston, with Eric R. Bittner, Department of Chemistry (1998-January 2000). His thesis was "Aspects of Selective Photochemistry."
Education:
Ph.D., University of Chicago - 1997 (Chemistry, General)
Areas of Expertise:
Kobrak's research interests are in theoretical physical chemistry, with a focus on quantum and classical dynamics in the condensed phase. His current interest is in room-temperature ionic liquids, a class of molten salts relevant to green chemistry and of great technological interest. Details may be found at his website, http://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/mkobrak.
Doctoral Rotation Projects:
While students who come to pursue a degree with Kobrak would be involved in molecular dynamics simulations (most likely involving mixed quantum-classical components), such simulations are too slow to start up for a single rotation. As a more immediate project, Kobrak has an ongoing collaboration with a radiation chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory who is studying solvated electrons in ionic liquids. A rotating student would perform numerical analysis of the spectra using a quantum mechanical description of the electron to infer its spatial distribution and kinetic energy from its absorption spectrum.
Books and Publications
"A Proposed Voltage Dependence of the Ionic Strength of a Confined Electrolyte Base on a Grand Canonical Ensemble Model." Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. In press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2013
Li, H. and M.N. Kobrak. "Instantaneous Normal Mode Analysis of a Series of Model Molten Salts." ChemPhysChem. 13: 1934-41. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2012
Li, H. and M.N. Kobrak. "The Influence of Charge Distribution on Ion Diffusion in Molten Salts: A Model Study." ECS Transactions 41: 31-21. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2012
"Notes on the Application of the Kornyshev Model for Capacitance in Ionic Liquids." ECS Transactions 218: 411-19. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2010
Kobrak, M.N. and H. Li. "Electrostatic Interactions in Ionic Liquids: The Dangers of Dipole and Dielectric Descriptions." Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 12: 1922-43. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2010
Li, H. and M.N. Kobrak. "A Molecular Dynamics Study of the Influence of Ionic Charge Distribution on the Dynamics of a Molten Salt." Journal of Chemical Physics 131: 194507. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2009
"Coupled Ion Complexation and Exchange Between Aqueous and Ionic Liquid Phases: A Thermodynamic Interpretation." Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange 26: 735-48. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008
"The Chemical Environment of Ionic Liquids: Links between Liquid Structure, Dynamics and Solvation." Advances in Chemical Physics 139: 85. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008
"The Relationship Between Solvent Polarity and Molar Volume in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." Green Chemistry 10: 80. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008
Laboratory Manual in General Chemistry. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall-Hunt. (Books and Publications: Edited Book) 2008
Li, H., M. Ibrahim, I. Agberemi and M. N. Kobrak. "The Relationship between Ionic Structure and Viscosity in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." Journal of Chemical Physics 129: 124507. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008
"A Comparative Study of Solvation Dynamics in Room-temperature Ionic Liquids." Journal of Chemical Physics 127: 184507. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007
"Electrostatic Interactions of a Neutral Dipolar Solute With a Fused Salt: A New Model for Solvation in Ionic Liquids." Journal of Physical Chemistry B 111: 4755. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007
Harrow, K., R. Eckhardt, D. Kopec, M. Kobrak and P. Whitlock. "SmartTutor: A Unified Approach for Enhancing Science Education." Journal of Comp. Science in Coll. 22: 29. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2007
Hirsch, W. and M. Kobrak. "Lewis Structure Interpretation of Free Radicals Similar to ClO." Journal of Chemical Education 84: 1360. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007
"A Mathematical Proof that Nothing Is True." Journal of Irreproducible Results 50: 22. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2006
"Characterization of the Solvation Dynamics of an Ionic Liquid via Molecular Dynamics Simulation." Journal of Chemical Physics 125: 064502. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2006
Harper, J.B. and M.N. Kobrak. "Understanding Organic Processes in Ionic Liquids: Achievements So Far and Challenges Remaining." Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry 3: 253. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2006
Kobrak, M.N. and N. Sandalow. "An Electrostatic Interpretation of Structure-Property Relationships in Ionic Liquids." Molten Salts XIV. Pennington, N.J.: The Electrochemical Society. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2006
Kobrak, M.N. and V. Znamenskiy. "Solvation Dynamics of Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Evidence for Collective Motion on Sub-Picosecond Timescales." Chemical Physics Letters 395: 127. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2004
Znamenskiy, V. and M.N. Kobrak. "A Molecular Dynamics Study of Polarity in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." Journal of Physical Chemistry B 108: 1072. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2004
"Error Estimation in Histogram-based Free Energy Calculations." Journal of Computational Chemistry 24: 1437. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2003
Hirsch, W. and M.N. Kobrak. "Doppler Shift and Energy Transfer to a Solar Sail." Physics Education 37: 422. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2002
Bittner, E.R. and M.N. Kobrak. "Quantum Simulations of Polaron Recombination Dynamics in Linear Polyenes." Synthetic Metals 121: 1635. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2001
Kobrak, M.N. and S. Hammes-Schiffer. "Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer in Solution." Journal of Physical Chemistry A 105: 10435. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2001
Hu, H., M.N. Kobrak, C. Xu and S. Hammes-Schiffer. "Reaction Path Hamiltonian Analysis of Dynamical Solvent Effects for a Claisen Rearrangement and a Diels-Alder Reaction." Journal of Physical Chemistry A 104: 8058. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2000
Kobrak, M.N. and E. R. Bittner. "A Dynamic Model for Exciton Self-Trapping in Conjugated Polymers II: Implementation." Journal of Chemical Physics 112: 5410. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2000
Kobrak, M.N. and E. R. Bittner. "A Quantum Molecular Dynamics Study of Exciton Self-Trapping in Conjugated Polymers: Temperature Dependence and Spectroscopy." Journal of Chemical Physics 112: 7684. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2000
Kobrak, M.N. and E. R. Bittner. "A Quantum Molecular Dynamics Study of Polaron Recombination in Conjugated Polymers." Physical Review B 62: 11473. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2000
Kobrak, M.N. and E.R. Bittner. "A Dynamic Model for Exciton Self-Trapping in Conjugated Polymers I: Theory." Journal of Chemical Physics 112: 5399. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2000
Kobrak, M.N. and S.A. Rice. "Coherent Population Transfer via a Resonant Intermediate State: The Breakdown of Adiabatic Passage." Physical Review A 57: 1158. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 1998
Kobrak, M.N. and S.A. Rice. "Selective Photochemistry via Adiabatic Passage: An Extension of StiRAP for Degenerate Final States." Physical Review A 57: 2885. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 1998
Kobrak, M.N. and S.A. Rice. "The Equivalence of Photoselective Adiabatic Passage and the Strong Field Brumer-Shapiro Approach." Journal of Chemical Physics 109: 1. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 1998
Kobrak, M.N. and S.A. Rice. "The Influence of High-Frequency Modes on Two Pulse Spectroscopy." Journal of Chemical Physics 107: 4091. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 1997
Kobrak, M.N., E.M. Hiller and S.A. Rice. "The Influence of High-Frequency Modes on Ultrashort Pulse Absorption Initiated Processes," Journal of Chemical Physics 105: 9403. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 1996
Creative Work
Contributed Poster: "Structure Property Relationships in the Dynamics of Ionic Liquids", 4th Annual Conference on Ionic Liquids, Washington, DC, July 2011. 2011
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
PSC-CUNY Collaborative Incentive Grant, for "Combined Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Electrodeposition in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." $40,000; September 2009-Feburary 2011. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
Petroleum Research Fund grant, for "A Comparative Study of Solvation Dynamics in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids," 2005-07. (Grants and Fellowships) 2005
Faculty mentor, Department of Energy Faculty and Student Team Fellowship, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Summer. (Grants and Fellowships) 2004
Faculty mentor, Department of Energy Faculty and Student Team Fellowship, Brookhaven National Laboratory. (Grants and Fellowships) 2003
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"A Thermodynamic Model for the Extraction of Metal Ions from the Aqueous Phase Using Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2012
"Analysis of the Influence of Ionic Charge Distribution on the Dynamics of Ionic Liquids." National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Analysis of the Influence of Ionic Charge Distribution on the Dynamics of Ionic Liquids." National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. San Diego, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Structure Property Relationships in the Dynamics of Ionic Liquids." 4th annual Conference on Ionic Liquids. Washington, D.C., July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Thermodynamic Model for the Extraction of Metal Ions From the Aqueous Phase Using Room-temperature Ionic Liquids." National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. San Diego, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2012
Contributed oral presentation: "A Thermodynamic Model for the Extraction of Metal Ions from the Aqueous Phase Using Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids, " Mark N. Kobrak, National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 2012. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
Invited oral presentation: "Analysis of the Influence of Ionic Charge Distribution of the Dynamics of Ionic Liquids," Mark N. Kobrak, National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 2012. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Collective Dynamics and Charge Transfer in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." National Meeting of the Electrochemical Society. Boston, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2011
Contributed oral presentation: "Collective Dynamics and Charge Transfer in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids", Mark N. Kobrak, National Meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Boston, October 2011. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Chemistry in Ionic Liquids: Conventional Behavior from Exotic Systems." University of Delaware. Newark, Del., October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2010
"Notes on the Application of the Kornyshev Model for Capacitance in Ionic Liquids." 218th meeting of the Electrochemical Society. Las Vegas, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Solvation in Ionic Liquids: Restocking the Conceptual Toolbox." The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Pomona, N.J., September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Theoretical Analysis of the Molecular Dynamics of Ionic Liquids." Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Wilmington, Del., April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2010
"Solvent Polarity and Dynamics in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Life Without the Dipole Moment." College of Staten Island (CUNY). September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"Solvent Polarity and Dynamics in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Life Without the Dipole Moment." Susquehanna University. Selinsgrove, Pa., October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"The Chemical Environment of Ionic Liquids: Conventional Behavior from Exotic Systems." West Virginia University. October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"A Comparative Simulation Study of Solvation Dynamics in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." American Conference on Theoretical Chemistry. Evanston, Ill., July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
"Analysis of the Ultrafast Solvation Dynamics of Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." American Chemical Society National Meeting. Philadelphia, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
"Improving Student Writing." Center for Teaching, Brooklyn College. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
"Solvent Polarity and Dynamics in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Life Without the Dipole Moment." Michigan Technological University. Houghton, Mich., February. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"Molecular Solvation in Ionic Liquids: Restocking the Conceptual Toolbox." American Chemical Society National Meeting. Boston, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"The Nature of Polarity in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." NYRAIL's Ionic Liquid Workshop. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
Li, H., M. Ibrahim, I. Agberemi and M.N. Kobrak. "The Relationship Between Ionic Structure and Viscosity in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." American Chemical Society National Meeting. Boston, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"Structure-Property Relationships in Ionic Liquids: An Electrostatic Approach." Great Lakes Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Milwaukee, June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006
"The Electrostatics of Ionic Liquids: Life Without the Dipole Moment." American Chemical Society National Meeting. San Francisco, September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"The Electrostatics of Ionic Liquids: Life Without the Dipole Moment." Pennsylvania State University. October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"The Marcus Coordinate of an Ionic Liquid: Analysis of Collective Motion." Great Lakes Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Milwaukee, June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006
"Solvation Dynamics in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." Gordon Research Conference on the Chemistry and Physics of Liquids. New Hampshire, July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
"Solvation Phenomena in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: The Need for a New Cartoon." City College of New York (CUNY). November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
"Structure-Property Relationships in Ionic Liquids: Rebuilding Chemical Intuition." Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. New Brunswick, N.J., May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
"Understanding Ionic Liquids: Links Between Chemical Structure and Solvation Properties." Second International Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry. Washington, D.C., June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
"Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids as Inherently Safe Solvents for Chemical Processing" poster. Ninth Annual Conference on Environmental Issues. Medgar Evers College. Brooklyn, N.Y., March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
"Solvation and Solvation Dynamics in a Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid" poster. First Annual Symposium on Ionic Liquids and Their Applications. Brookhaven National Laboratory. Upton, N.Y., April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
"Understanding Polarity in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." American Chemical Society National Meeting. New Orleans, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2003
"Understanding Polarity in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." American Chemical Society National Meeting. New York, September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2003
"Understanding Polarity in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids." Departmental Seminar. Queens College (CUNY). March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2003
"Systematic and Statistical Error in Histogram-Based Free Energy Calculations" poster. American Conference on Theoretical Chemistry. Seven Springs, Pa., June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2002
Professional Leadership
Chair, department Curriculum Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Faculty fellow, School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2013
Member, Appointments Committee, Department of Chemistry. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Member, Brooklyn College Policy Council. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Member, CUNY Pathways Life and Physical Science Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Member, CUNY Pathways Scientific World Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Member, organizing committee, Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry of CUNY. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Served on thesis defense committee for Rodney Versace, Department of Chemistry, CUNY Graduate Center. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2012
Chairman, Department of Chemistry Curriculum Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
Member, Department of Chemistry Appointments Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
Served in curriculum working group of STAR High School. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Served on CUNY Core Review Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
Served on New York Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Consortium organizing committee. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Served on Policy Council. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
Chairman, Department of Chemistry. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2010
Deputy executive officer, Department of Chemistry, CUNY Graduate Center. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2010
Chairman, Chemistry Department. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2009
Coordinator, Brooklyn College Sustainability Roundtable. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2009
Deputy executive officer, Department of Chemistry, CUNY Graduate Center. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2009
Member, departmental Summer Research Awards Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2009
Panel participant, PSC-CUNY grant proposal review panel for the chemistry section. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2009
Participant, departmental task force for revision of the teacher education curriculum, including preparing curriculum documents for revised undergraduate and master's programs. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2009
Particpant, departmental task force for revision of the master's program, including writing and overseeing the administration of a survey of local industry. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2009
Coordinator, Brooklyn College Sustainability Roundtable. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2008
Department liason to Brooklyn College's branch of the Teacher Academy. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2008
Deputy executive officer, Department of Chemistry, CUNY Graduate Center. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2008
Member, College Committee for Curriculum and Degree Requirements (Undergraduate). (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2008
Coordinator, Brooklyn College Sustainability Roundtable. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2007
Pedagogical Achievements
Continued service as department's industrial internship coordinator. 2013
Designed and implemented a three-week hands-on summer course, Quantitative Reasoning for High School Courses. Course ran in summer 2012 for 20 students, under the auspices of the STEP program. 2012
Served on doctoral committee for Nilesh Ingale (Chemical Engineering, City College). 2011
Served on doctoral thesis committee for Sufia Khatun (Physics, Hunter College). 2011
Served on doctoral thesis committee for Yi He (Biochemistry, City College). 2011
Co-coordinator, Focused Review Program, an intervention program supporting student retention in Chemistry 1 and 1.1. 2010
Member, thesis committee for biochemistry doctoral student Yi He (Hunter College). 2010
Member, thesis committee for chemical engineering doctoral student Nilesh Ingale (City College of New York). 2010
Member, thesis committee for chemistry master's student Michelle Maison (Brooklyn College). 2010
Member, thesis committee for physics doctoral student Sufia Khatun (Hunter College). 2010
Wrote and administered Cumulative Examination for Physical Chemistry, October. 2010
"A Brief Introduction to Green Chemistry" seminar. Macaulay Honors College. New York, September. 2009
Co-coordinator, Focused Review Program, an intervention program supporting student retention in Chemistry 1 and 1.1. 2009
Coordinator, departmental internship program. 2009
Member, curriculum working group of the STAR High School. 2009
Member, thesis committee for chemistry doctoral student Yi He (Hunter College). 2009
Created and implemented a new Department of Chemistry program to offer students internships at local companies. 2008
Participant, science working group with STAR high school teachers to improve student preparation for college-level chemistry courses. 2008
Participant, Transformations XI, a campus-wide program to improve the teaching of writing to second-language students. 2008
Community Activities
"Urban Sustainability" panel. Symposium organized at the Silhouette, a green residential building in Brooklyn, N.Y., October. 2009
Other Professional Activities
Deputy chairman, Department of Chemistry. 2008
Undergraduate adviser, Department of Chemistry. 2008
