Dr. Nicholas Dimakis
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Department of Physics
(956) 665- 8761
Email: [email protected]
EDUCATION
PhD, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1997
Major: Physics
MS, University of Salford, 1991
Major: Applied Optics
BS, National University of Athens, 1990
Major: Mathematics
EMPLOYMENT
Academic - Administrative Assignments
Associate Dean, (March 15, 2015 - August 31, 2016)
Department Chairperson, (July 15, 2012 - August 31, 2015)
Academic - Post-Secondary
Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (September 2016)
Associate Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (September 1, 2015 - August 31, 2016)
Associate Professor, University of Texas-Pan American (September 1, 2010 - August 31, 2015)
Assistant Professor, University of Texas-Pan American (2004 - 2010)
Adjunct Faculty, Truman College (2002 - 2004)
Research Assistant Professor, Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology (1999 - 2004)
Senior Research Associate, Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
(2001 - 2002)
Associate Director of Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL., Academic Resource
Center (ARC) (1999 - 2002)
Senior Research Associate, Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL (1997 - 1999)
Teaching Assistant, Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL (1996 - 1997)
General Physics Laboratory Coordinator, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL (1994 - 1996)
Teaching Assistant, Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL (1993 - 1996)
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PUBLICATIONS
Conference Proceedings
Nicholas Dimakis, Nestor Navarro, Julian Velazquez, and Andres Salgado. Electronic and
vibrational properties of graphene monolayers with iron adatoms: A density functional theory study.
Applied Surface Science/Elsevier. 334, (July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2014): 2-6.
Journal Articles
Nicholas Dimakis, Danielle Valdez, Fernando Flor, Andres Salgado, Kolade Adjibi, Sarah Vargas,
and Justin Saenz. Density functional theory calculations on alkali and the alkaline Ca atoms
adsorbed on graphene monolayers. Applied Surface Science. 413, (2017): 197–208.
Neili Loupe, Nilufar Nasirova, Jonathan Doan, Danielle Valdez, Maurizio Furlani, Nicholas
Dimakis, and Eugene Smotkin. DFT-experimental IR spectroscopy of lithiated single ion conducting
perfluorinated sulfonated ionomers: Ion induced polarization band broadening. Journal of
Electroanalytical Chemistry. (2017)
Nicholas Dimakis, Fernando Flor, Nestor Navarro, Andres Salgado, and Eugene Smotkin.
Adsorption of Carbon Monoxide on Platinum–Ruthenium, Platinum–Osmium,
Platinum–Ruthenium–Osmium, and Platinum–Ruthenium–Osmium–Iridium Alloys. The Journal of
Physical Chemistry C. 120, no. 19 (2016): 10427–10441.
Nicholas Dimakis, Fernando Flor, Andres Salgado, Kolade Adjibi, Sarah Vargas, and Justin Saenz.
Density functional theory calculations on transition metal atoms adsorbed on graphene monolayers.
Applied Surface Science. (2016)
Sanju Gupta, Sara Carrizosa, Benjamin McDonald, Jacek Jasinski, and Nicholas Dimakis.
Graphene-family nanomaterials assembled with cobalt oxides and cobalt nanoparticles as hybrid
supercapacitive electrodes and enzymeless glucose detection platforms. Journal of Materials
Research. (2016): 1–22.
Kierstyn Anderson, Erin Kingston, Joseph Romeo, Jonathan Doan, Neili Loupe, Nicholas Dimakis,
and Eugene Smotkin. Infrared spectroscopy of ion-induced cross-linked sulfonated poly (ether ether
ketone). Polymer. 93, (2016): 65–71.
Ian Kendrick, Jennifer Fore, Jonathan Doan, Neili Loupe, Andy Vong, Nicholas Dimakis, Max
Diem, and Eugene Smotkin. Operando Raman Micro-Spectroscopy of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel
Cells. Journal of The Electrochemical Society. 163, no. 4 (2016): H3152–H3159.
Sanju Gupta, Bryce Aberg, Sara Carrizosa, and Nicholas Dimakis. Vanadium pentoxide
nanobelt-reduced graphene oxide nanosheet composites as high-performance pseudocapacitive
electrodes: AC impedance spectroscopy data modeling and theoretical calculations. Materials. 9, no.
8 (2016): 615.
Jonathan Doan, Nestor Navarro, Dunesh Kumari, Kierstyn Anderson, Erin Kingston, Cassandra
Johnson, Andy Vong, Nicholas Dimakis, and Eugene Smotkin. Symmetry-based IR group modes as
dynamic probes of Nafion ion exchange site structure. Polymer/Elsevier. 73, (July (3rd
Quarter/Summer) 2015): 34-41.
Jonathan Doan, Erin Kingston, Ian Kendrick, Kierstyn Anderson, Nicholas Dimakis, Philippe
Knauth, Maria Di Vona, and Eugene Smotkin. Theoretical and experimental infrared spectra of
hydrated and dehydrated sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone). Polymer/Elsevier. 55, no. 18
(September 2014): 4671-4676.
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Nicholas Dimakis, Nestor Navarro, Thomas Mion, and Eugene Smotkin. Carbon monoxide
adsorption coverage study on platinum and ruthenium surfaces. The Journal of Physical Chemistry
C/ACS. 118, no. 22 (May 2014): 11711-11722.
I. Kendrick, A. Yakaboski, E. Kingston , J. Doan, Nicholas Dimakis, and E. Smotkin. Theoretical
and Experimental Infrared Spectra of Hydrated and Dehydrated Nafion. J. Polym. Sc. B . 51, no. 18
(August 2013): 1329–1334. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/polb.23348/full
Nicholas Dimakis, Nestor Navarro, and Eugene Smotkin. Carbon monoxide adsorption on
platinum-osmium and platinum-ruthenium-osmium mixed nanoparticles. The Journal of chemical
physics/AIP. 138, no. 17 (May 2013): 174704–12 .
Nicholas Dimakis, Thomas Mion, and Eugene Smotkin. A Density Functional Theory Study on
Carbon Monoxide Adsorption on Platinum–Osmium and Platinum–Ruthenium–Osmium Alloys.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C/ACS. 116, no. 40 (September 2012): 21447-21458.
Chang Byun, Tifani Parker, Chunchao Liang, Ian Kendrick, Nicholas Dimakis, Eugene Smotkin,
Li-Mei Jin, Dongqing Zhuang, Darryl DesMarteau, Stephen Creager, and Carol Korzeniewski.
Thermal processing as a means to prepare durable, submicron thickness ionomer films for study by
transmission infrared spectroscopy. Analytical chemistry/ACS. 84, no. 19 (September 2012):
8127-8132.
Sara Evarts, Ian Kendrick, Britta Wallstrom, Thomas Mion, Mehdi Abedi, Nicholas Dimakis, and
Eugene Smotkin. Ensemble site requirements for oxidative adsorption of methanol and ethanol on Pt
membrane electrode assemblies. ACS Catalysis/ACS. 2, no. 5 (March 2012): 701-707.
Ian Kendrick, Dunesh Kumari, Adam Y Yakaboski, Nicholas Dimakis, and Eugene Smotkin.
Elucidating the ionomer-electrified metal interface. Journal of the American Chemical Society/ACS.
132, no. 49 (November 2010): 17611-17616.
Nicholas Dimakis, M. Cowan, G. Hanson, and E. Smotkin. An Attraction-Repulsion Mechanism for
Carbon Monoxide Adsorption on Platinum and Platinum-Ruthenium Alloys. J. Phys. Chem. C. 113,
no. 43 (2009): 18730–39 .
Nicholas Dimakis and G. Bunker. Ab Initio Single and Multiple Scattering EXAFS Debye-Waller
Factor.I. Raman and Infrared Data. Phys. Rev. B. 58, (1998): 2467-2475.
Other
Nicholas Dimakis. Introduction to Medical Imaging–Physics, Engineering and Clinical Applications,
by Nicholas Dimakis: Scope: medical imaging. Level: advanced undergraduates and graduate
students in medical imaging and related disciplines. Contemporary Physics/Taylor & Francis. 53,
no. 2 (July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2012): 382-383.
Nicholas Dimakis. Computational Nanoscience: Applications for Molecules, Clusters, and Solids, by
Kálmán Varga and Joseph A. Driscoll: Scope: review. Level: advanced undergraduates and graduate
students in computational physics, material science, and engineering. Contemporary Physics/Taylor
& Francis. 53, no. 2 (March 2012): 183-184.
Nicholas Dimakis, Mohammed Farooqi, Emily Garza, and Grant Bunker. XAFS Debye-Waller
Factors modeled expressions for Zn cysteine active sites of metalloproteins. The Journal of chemical
physics. 128, (2008): 115104.
Nicholas Dimakis and G Bunker. Ab-Initio Self Consistent X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure
Analysis for Metalloproteins. Biophys. J. Lett,. 91, (2006): 87-89.
Nicholas Dimakis and G. Bunker. XAFS Debye-Waller Factors Temperature-Dependent Expressions
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for Fe+2-Porphyrin complexes. AIP. (2006)
Nicholas Dimakis, Hakim Iddir, Robert Díaz-Morales, Renxuan Liu, Grant Bunker, Eun-Hyuk
Chung, and Eugene Smotkin. A band dispersion mechanism for Pt alloy compositional tuning of
linear bound CO stretching frequencies.. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 109, no. 5 (2005):
1839-1848..
Nicholas Dimakis and G. Bunker. XAFS Debye-Waller factors for Zn-metalloproteins. Phys.Rev. B..
70, (2004): 195114(1)-195114(12).
Nicholas Dimakis and G. Bunker. Group Fitted Ab-Initio Single and Multiple Scattering XAFS
Debye-Waller Factors. Phys. Rev. B Rapid Comm.. 65, (2002): 2011031-2011034.
Under Submission
Other
Nicholas Dimakis, Mohammed Farooqi, Emily Garza, and Grant Bunker. (2008). XAFS
Debye-Waller Factors modeled expressions for Zn cysteine active sites of metalloproteins. The
Journal of chemical physics. (vol. 128, 115104).
Media Contributions
TV
Fox/Univision. (August 20, 2013)
AWARDS AND HONORS
Dean’s Award Recognition for Service, University of Texas-Pan American (December 2012)
PRESENTATIONS
Nicholas Dimakis. "The search for high efficient fuel cell anode catalysts: The Pt-Ru-Os-Ir
Quaternary Alloy ." UTRGV, TX. (November 2016)
Nicholas Dimakis. "Renewable energy sources: Methanol fuel cells." 2nd International Conf.
Applied Innovation, Arta, Greece . (October 2016)
Nicholas Dimakis. "Thermodynamics and the Stock Market." TEI of Epirus, Arta, Greece . (October
2016)
Nicholas Dimakis. "Density Functional Theory Calculations on Transition Metal Adatom Adsorbed
on Graphene Monolayers." NANOSMAT, Arlington, TX. (June 2016)
Nicholas Dimakis. "Phenomenological models for carbon monoxide adsorption on platinum-based
alloy catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells." ACS, San Diego, CA . (April 2016)
Nicholas Dimakis. "The Extended π-attraction σ-repulsion Model for Carbon Monoxide Adsorbed
on Platinum-Ruthenium-Osmium-Iridium Quaternary Alloys." ACS, Denver, CO . (April 2015)
Nicholas Dimakis. "Density Functional Theory Calculations on Carbon Monoxide Adsorption on
Platinum-based Alloys ." UTPA, TX. (April 20, 2015)
Nicholas Dimakis. "Electronic and Vibrational Properties for Grapheme Monolayers with Iron
adatoms." NANOSMAT, Houston, TX (2014). (June 2014)
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Nicholas Dimakis. "A New Phenomenological Model for Carbon Monoxide Adsorption on
Platinum-Group Metals and Alloys." Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE . (April 2014)
Nestor Navarro, Andres Salgado, Julian Velazquez, Nicholas Dimakis, and Eugene Smotkin. "DFT
Calculations of Carbon Monoxide Adsorbed on Pt and Ru Surfaces." APS, (March 2014)
Nicholas Dimakis, Nestor Navarro, "Carbon monoxide adsorption on platinum-osmium and
platinum-ruthenium-osmium alloys." ACS meeting, New Orleans. (April 2013)
Nicholas Dimakis. "Initial Results on a Computational Approach for the Representation of
Functional Group Vibrational Modes for IR Analysis of Nafion." Nanosmat, Florida. (May 2012)
Mehdi Abedi, Michael Finch, Sara Evarts, Sanjeev Mukerjee, Eugene Smotkin, and Nicholas
Dimakis. "Effect of Water/Sulfonate Ratio on Hydrogen Evolution on Pt Based Membrane Electrode
Assemblies." The Electrochemical Society, (August 10, 2011)
Adam Yakaboski, Nicholas Dimakis, Dunesh Kumari, and Eugene Smotkin. "Infrared
Spectroscopy-DFT Analysis of Alkaline Ionomer/Platinum Interfaces." The Electrochemical Society,
(August 10, 2011)
Eugene Smotkin, Boris Kiefer, Nicholas Dimakis, Sanjeev Mukerjee, and Plamen Atanassov.
"Vibrational Fingerprinting Technique for Active Sites in Non-Pt ORR Electrocatalyst." The
Electrochemical Society, (August 10, 2011)
Thomas Mion, Nicholas Dimakis, Faisal Alamgir, Cherno Jaye, Daniel Fischer, Paul McGinn, James
Cooper, Steve Greenbaum, and Eugene Smotkin. "Extended Pi-Sigma tilde orbital model for CO
adsorption on Pt and Ru." APS, (March 2011)
TEACHING
Courses Taught
Classical Mechanics
General Physics I
General Physics II
Intro to Biophysics
Intro to Medical Imaging
Junior Laboratory Resear
Junior Laboratory Research
Modern Physics
Optics
Phys Sci I
Phys Sci II
Physical Science
Physical Science I
Physical Science II
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Physics Science & Eng II
Physics Science & Engr I
Physics Science & Eng I
Physics Science & Eng II
Physics Science & Engr I
Radiation Biophysics
Senior Laboratory Resear
Senior Laboratory Research
Thermodynamics
Non-Credit Instruction
• Certification, (September 1, 2011 - August 31, 2012)
Directed Student Learning
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Andres Salgado, "Ad Atoms on Graphene Monolayers" ,
Physics and Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2015)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Fermando Flor, "Co adsorption on PtRuOsIr alloys" , Physics
and Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2015)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Andres Salgado, "Electronic and Vibrational Properties of
Graphene Monolayers" , Physics and Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2013 - August 31, 2014)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Julian Velasquez, "Electronic and Vibrational Properties of
Graphene Monolayers" , Physics and Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2013 - August 31, 2014)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Nestor Navarro, "Carbon monoxide adsorption coverage
effects on platinum and ruthenium surfaces" , Chemistry (UTPA). (September 1, 2013 - August 31,
2014)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Nestor Navarro, "CO adsorption on Pt and Pt-based alloys" ,
Chemistry (UTPA). (September 1, 2012 - August 31, 2013)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Andrew Ochoa, "Inhibition on MMP and porphyrin sites" ,
Physics and Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2011 - August 31, 2012)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Thomas Mion, "Extended Pi-Sigma tilde orbital model for CO
adsorption on Pt and PtOs and PtRusOs" , Physics and Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2011 August 31, 2012)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Andrew Ochoa, "Optimized geometry of SB-3CT after
inhibition on MMP and porphyrin site" , Physics and Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2010 - August
31, 2011)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Illiana Leal, "Computational calculations on selective
anti-cancer agents" , Biology (UTPA). (September 1, 2010 - August 31, 2011)
Undergraduate Supervised Research. Thomas Mion, "Color-coded IR spectra" , Physics and
Geology (UTPA). (September 1, 2010 - August 31, 2011)
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SERVICE
Department Service
Committee Member, Departmental Bylaws committee. (September 2016)
Committee Member, Departmental Graduate Committee . (September 2016)
Committee Member, Departmental Tenure & Promotion Committee and Post Tenure . (September
2016)
Committee Co-Chair, Departmental Undergraduate Committee including Curriculum Development .
(September 2016)
Committee Member, Search Committee for Assistant Professor . (September 2016)
Other, Physical Science Buildings Supervisor . (July 2012)
Other, Department Affirmative Action Associate (AAA) . (September 1, 2011 - August 31, 2012)
Committee Member, Post-Tenure Committee . (September 2011 - August 2012)
Committee Chair, Tenure and Promotion Committee . (September 1, 2011 - August 31, 2012)
Committee Member, Post-Tenure Committee . (September 2010 - August 2011)
Committee Chair, Tenure and Promotion Committee . (September 1, 2010 - August 31, 2011)
College Service
Committee Member (September 1, 2016 - August 31, 2017)
Committee Chair, UTRGV COS Assessment Council. (March 15, 2015 - August 31, 2016)
Committee Chair, UTRGV COS Community Engagement Council. (March 15, 2015 - August 31,
2016)
Committee Co-Chair, Joint UTPA-UTB College level strategic planning committee for UTRGV .
(September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2015)
Committee Member, COSM Executive Council. (September 1, 2012 - August 31, 2015)
Committee Member, College level Tenure and Promotion Committee . (September 1, 2010 - August
31, 2012)
University Service
Committee Member, UTPA NSF MRI Peer Review Committee . (September 1, 2014 - August 31,
2015)
Committee Member, Council of Chairs . (September 1, 2012 - August 31, 2015)
Committee Member, UTRGV COS Dean search committee. (March 15, 2015 - July 31, 2015)
Committee Member, UTPA-UTB academic working group for the establishment of the UTRGV.
(September 1, 2013 - August 31, 2014)
Committee Member, University level HiPAC Committee . (September 1, 2011 - August 31, 2012)
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Committee Member, UTPA NSF MRI Peer Review Committee . (September 1, 2010 - August 31,
2011)
Committee Co-Chair, Faculty Development Council . (2005 - 2007)
Professional Service
Member , External Member Tenure and Promotion, Democritus University of Thrace , Thrace .
(September 2014)
Member , External Member Tenure and Promotion, Eastern Macedonia & Thrace Institute of
Technology , Thrace . (September 2014)
Member , External Member Tenure and Promotion, University of the Aegean , Aegean Islands .
(September 2014)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Applied Surface Science/Elsevier (September 1, 2016 - August 31, 2017)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Materials (September 1, 2016 - August 31, 2017)
Conference-Related , Nanosmat Conference , Arlington , (June 2016 - June 2016)
Committee Member , External Ph.D. Thesis Examiner for Physics candidate final thesis defense
examination , San Antonio , (September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2015)
Reviewer, Journal Article , New Journal of Chemistry/RSC (April 2015 - April 2015)
Committee Member , Scientific Committee of the 2nd International Conference on Applied
Innovation , Arta . (March 1, 2015 - March 30, 2015)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Journal of Physical Chemistry/ACS (January 2015 - January 2015)
Committee Member , External Ph.D. Thesis Examiner for Physics candidate final thesis defense
examination , Northeastern University , (September 1, 2013 - August 31, 2014)
Committee Member , External Ph.D. Thesis Examiner for Physics candidate final thesis defense
examination , Boston , (July 1, 2014 - July 31, 2014)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Applied Surface Science/Elsevier (June 2014 - June 2014)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Applied Surface Science/Elsevier (June 2014 - June 2014)
Conference-Related , Nanosmat Conference , Houston , (June 2014 - June 2014)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Macromolecules/ACS (August 07, 2013)
Reviewer, Journal Article , The Journal of Physical Chemistry/ACS (June 26, 2013)
Committee Member , External Reviewer for Promotion to Associate Professor, University of
Peloponnese , Tripoli . (September 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Electrochimica Acta (September 15, 2012)
Reviewer, Book , Contemporary Physics/Taylor & Francis (July 2012 - July 2012)
Conference-Related , Nanosmat Conference , Tampa , (June 2012 - June 2012)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Energy & Environmental Science/RSC (April 26, 2012)
Reviewer, Book , Contemporary Physics/Taylor & Francis (March 2012 - March 2012)
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Reviewer, Journal Article , Journal of Nanaopartciles and Nanomaterials/Cambridge (March 2012 March 2012)
Reviewer, Journal Article , The Journal of Physical Chemistry/ACS (February 26, 2012)
Reviewer, Journal Article , Journal of Materials Research/Cambridge (October 2011 - October 2011)
Committee Member , Hellenic Republic , Ioannina , (June 2011 - June 2011)
Professional Memberships
International XAFS Society
Public Service
• Guest Speaker , 1. Incorporating high school students into computational chemistry research ,
PSJA Southwest Early College High School , (April 2015 - April 2015)
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