Valerica Raicu
- Professor, Physics and Astronomy
- Professor, Electrical Engineering
Research Interests
Professor Raicu's main research interests are:
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Theoretical and experimental quantum electrodynamics and its relation to classical electrodynamics.
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Development of photonics technology for studying macromolecular interactions and dynamics.
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Nonlinear laser spectroscopy for probing reaction dynamics and mechanical and thermal relaxation in proteins.
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Dielectric and mechanical relaxation in complex systems.
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Microspectroscopic analysis and taxonomic characterization of extant and fossilized biological materials.
Biographical Sketch
Valerică Raicu obtained his Physics Diploma in 1991 and his PhD in Biophysics in 1998, both from the University of Bucharest (Romania). During that time, he worked as a Research Scientist for the Institute of Physical Chemistry of Romanian Academy (1992-1996) and for Research & Design Institute for Rare and Radioactive Metals (1996-1998). The following three years he was a Research Instructor at the Department of Physiology at Kochi Medical School (Japan). In 2002, Raicu obtained a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Departments of Chemistry and Physics and Charles H. Best Institute, University of Toronto.
Since 2004, Raicu has been at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Physics and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences. He served as the Chair of the Department of Physics from 2012 to 2015. Professor Raicu has developed a Biophysics course for which he also wrote the book Integrated Molecular and Cellular Biophysics (Springer, 2008). His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (Programs: Physics of Living Systems, Major Research Instrumentation, and Partnerships for Innovation), Bradley Foundation, UWM Research Foundation, Aurora Spectral Technologies, LLC, and UWM Research Growth Initiative. He is also a Senior Researcher with the RIIO Alliance.