Research Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Old Dominion University

Physical Sciences Bldg II, Room 1104D (COSMIC Laboratory), 4402 Elkhorn Ave, Norfolk, VA, 23529.

Postmail address: Chemistry Bldg., Old Dominion University. 4501 Elkhorn Avenue, Norfolk, VA, 23529.

E-mail: spagola@odu.edu 
TEL: (757)-254-7165 

ORCID iD iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2083-7599

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Mechanochemistry and Crystal Engineering.
  • Kinetics and mechanisms of mechanochemical reactions in ball mills. In situ and ex situ kinetics monitoring by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction.
  • Synthesis and study of the properties of pharmaceutical drug-drug cocrystals and salts. Organic ferroelectric cocrystals.
  • Direct-space methods for crystal structure determination from X-ray powder diffraction. Rietveld analysis. Single crystal X-ray diffraction. Microcrystal electron diffraction (microED). Instructional materials for users of free-distribution powder diffraction software.

Biographical Sketch

I was born and raised in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. I earned a Licentiate in Chemistry degree in 1992 with coursework oriented to Physical Chemistry, at the National University of Córdoba. In 1997, I defended my doctoral thesis in Solid-State Chemistry at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical Sciences, National University of Córdoba. I synthesized ternary transition metal oxides and studied their properties using various techniques, including X-ray powder diffraction, neutron powder diffraction, Rietveld analysis, Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR reflectivity, and electrical resistivity measurements as a function of temperature. After my doctoral thesis, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate (1998-2000) at the SUNY X3B1 X-ray powder diffraction beamline at the NSLS-I, Brookhaven National Laboratory-SUNY at Stony Brook, Department of Physics and Astronomy, wherein I learned about direct-space methods to solve crystal structures from synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, by then a rather new field. I returned to Córdoba for around two years as a researcher and teacher, later I worked at the pharmaceutical company Apotex Inc (Toronto, Canada) as a specialist in X-ray powder diffraction, and in 2007 I returned to the USA as a postdoctoral researcher at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. I stayed there as a Research Scientist II in the Department of Applied Science, while I initiated research work in mechanochemistry for the synthesis of charge transfer complexes of tetrathiafulvalene and their solid-state characterization, including crystal structure determination from powders. Since 2018, I have been a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Old Dominion University. My current research work with undergraduate and graduate students focuses on: (1) The investigation of the kinetics of mechanochemical reactions in ball mills with the objective of determining their activation energies and mechanisms, using in situ Raman spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and various other solid-state characterization techniques. (2) The synthesis and solid-state characterization of organic cocrystals and salts including pharmaceutical drug combinations. For additional details, see here.