Geoffrey Davies
Phone: 617 373 2834
Fax 617 373 8795
e-mail: g.davies@neu.edu

Matthews Distinguished University 
Professor of Chemistry
Northeastern University, 
Boston. MA 02115

Research Interests
Environmental Materials, especially humic acids

Professional Data
1963, Birmingham University (UK), B. Sc. (Hons. Class I), Chemistry
1966, Birmingham University (UK), Ph. D., Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms
1987, Birmingham University (UK), D. Sc., Inorganic and Materials Chemistry
1966-68, Brandeis University, NIH Fellow, Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms
1968-69, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Research Associate, Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms
1969-71, University of Kent (UK), ICI Fellow, Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms
1971-77, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University
1977-81 Associate Professor, Northeastern University
1981-88, Professor, Northeastern University
1988-93, University Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University
1993- , Matthews Distinguished University Professor, Northeastern University
1981, 1993, 1999 Excellence in Teaching Award, Northeastern University
1984 ACS Student Affiliate Teaching Award
1989 Certificate of Honor, Alexandria University, Egypt
1995- , Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
2005- Lifetime Achievement Award in Teaching, Northeastern University

Visiting Professor, University of Sussex (UK, 1979), University of Alexandria (1986, 1994), Al-Quds University, Jerusalem (1992). Brandeis University (1993), Boston College (1999), Tufts University (2000).

We are studying natural materials called humic substances.
Humic substances (HSs) are remarkable brown, carbon-rich materials in coals, plants, water sediments and soils that retain water and selectively bind metals and other solutes. HSs are crucial environmental materials that make arable land out of deserts, but their structures are unknown despite 200 years of world wide effort. We were the first to find HSs in a live plant. Our work indicates that HSs isolated from different sources have the same or similar binding sites and molecular structures. We are studying HSs immobilization by attachment to clays and minerals for bioremediation and the effects of bound metals on HSs adsorptive properties to understand HSs environmental roles.

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