Stephen E. Cabaniss

Position:	Professor of Chemistry, Analytical and Environmental Chemistry
Email:	cabaniss@unm.edu
Phone:	505.277.4445
Fax:	505.277.2609
Office:	Room #203B

Education

• B.S. in Chemistry, 1980, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ph.D. in Chemistry, 1986, University of North Carolina
• Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemistry, 1987, Harvard School of Public Health
• Research Associate in Chemistry, 1989, University of North Carolina

Research

Study of the natural environment raises biogeochemical questions related to naturally-occurring organic compounds: How do organic substances lead to soil formation? How is energy transferred from higher plants to microbes? What controls the bioavailability and movement of metals in surface and subsurface waters? To address these and other questions, we have developed an agent-based model (ABM) of organic chemistry in the environment, employing stochastic kinetic algorithms and quantitative structure reactivity (QSPR) relationships. The ABM is ideally suited to representing the heterogeneous mixtures of compounds found in the environment, while carefully formulated QSPRs permit quantitative predictions of chemical observables. Current work seeks to apply the mode to problems in metal complexation, drinking water disinfection, microbial ecology and sub-surface contaminant transport.

Related research projects include experimental studies of arsenic and organic compounds onto iron oxides, spectroscopic investigations of humic substances, and uncertainty analysis of the thermodynamic models used to predict uranium speciation in groundwater.

Recent Publications

1. Cabaniss, S.E., Madey, G., Leff, L., Maurice, P.A., and Wetzel, R. “A stochastic model for the synthesis and degradation of natural organic matter. Part II. Molecular property distributions” 2007 Biogeochemistry 86, 269-286.
2. McAuley, B. and Cabaniss, S.E., “Quantitative detection of aqueous arsenic and other oxoanions using attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy utilizing iron oxide coated internal reflection elements to enhance the limits of detection.” 2007 Anal. Chim. Acta, 581, 309-317.
3. Cabaniss, S.E., Madey, G., Leff, L., Maurice, P.A., and Wetzel, R. “A stochastic model for the synthesis and degradation of natural organic matter. Part I. Data structures and reaction kinetics” 2005, Biogeochemistry 76, 319-347.
4. Dejanovic, K.N. and S.E. Cabaniss “A reverse phase HPLC method for determining polarity distributions in natural organic matter” 2004 Envr. Sci. Technol. 38, 1108-1114.
5. Pullin, M. J. and S.E. Cabaniss, “The effects of pH, ionic strength, and iron-fulvic acid interactions on the kinetics of non-photochemical iron transformations. I. Iron(II) oxidation and iron colloid formation” 2003 Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 21, 4067-4077.