Summary
Joseph Cline is emeritus faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Research interests
Current research is in the mathematics, visualization and construction of tessellations and their patterned decoration, including modern elaborations of medieval Girih designs. I am particularly interested in the symmetry and topology of structures emergent in patterns on aperiodic Penrose tilings.
Previous chemistry research has centered around experimental study of molecular collisions, photodissociation and photochemistry, and kinetics. In the gas phase, molecular beams, spectroscopic probes and imaging techniques were used to characterize these processes with electronic, vibrational and rotational quantum state resolution in coincidence with spatial velocity distributions. In the condensed phase, polarized light schemes were used to control the angular distribution of molecular rotors immobilized in thin films. A particular interest in both the gas and condensed phases is the interplay of structural and dynamical chirality.
Education
- Postdoctoral (1988-1990), JILA, University of Colorado (Stephen R. Leone)
- Ph.D. (1988), California Institute of Technology (Kenneth C. Janda)
- B.S. (1983), University of Virginia
Selected publications
- Cline, I. J. Knotted Strapwork Strands in a Penrose-Type Girih Pattern, Accepted 2025.
- Cline, J. Interlace Patterns Emerging in a Penrose-Type Islamic Design Proceedings of Bridges 2024: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Culture 2024, 163-170.