James LoBue was awarded Associate Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry on August 1, 2023.

Jim LoBue earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College in 1978 and his PhD from Wesleyan University (in Connecticut not Georgia) in 1986. His graduate work involved the study of van der Waals molecules using microwave spectroscopy in a molecular beam under the direction of Dr. Stewart Novick. He then worked as a post doctoral associate at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen D. Colson (now of Batelle Northwest Laboratories) where he studied pyrolysis in a modified pulsed jet expansion using VUV photoionization and TOF mass spectrometry. From the fall of 1988 through the summer of 1993 he was a faculty member in the Chemistry Department at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and in the fall of 1993 he and his family (wife Nan, daughter Audrey, and son Ernie) arrived in Statesboro. He has been a faculty member at Georgia Southern ever since. Except for one year he has taught physical chemistry every year since 1988.

Research Interests: Dr. LoBue is currently involved in two very different projects:

Investigating the photochemical properties of tetra-substituted porphyrins. These molecules have properties that make them candidates for a type of cancer therapy called photodynamic therapy. This work involves the use of various spectrometers available in the Chemistry Department, principally the ISS-K2 Phase Modulated Spectrofluorometer.

During the past two summers (2004 and 2005) Dr. LoBue has been working in the laboratory of Dr. John Larese. This work involves the study of highly uniform surfaces by high resolution volumetric adsorption. The current project is to understand the interaction of ethylene with an MgO surface.