Barbara Walden joined the Trinity faculty in 1991 and is currently the Chair of the Physics Department.  She enjoys teaching a wide variety of physics courses at the introductory and advanced level, and has developed and taught general interest courses in astronomy, optics, and modern physics.  Her research interests focus primarily on deriving structural information about thin diamond films and other micro- and nano-scale materials using Raman spectroscopy.

Professor Walden graduated with a B.A. in physics / astronomy from Colgate University.  She went on to study at the Pennsylvania State University, where she received a Ph.D. in physics for her dissertation research on the vibrational modes of fractal structures in silica aerogels.

• H. Li, B.W. Sheldon, A. Kothari, Z. Ban, and B.L. Walden. “Stress Evolution in Nanocrystalline Diamond Films Produced by Chemical Vapor Deposition.” J. App. Phys., in press (2006).
• A. Rajamani, B.W. Sheldon, S. Nijhawan, A. Schwartzman, J. Rankin, B.L Walden, and L. Riester. “Chemistry-induced intrinsic stress variations during the chemical vapor deposition of polycrystalline diamond.” J. App. Phys. 96, (2004): 3531-3539.
• B.W. Sheldon,S. Nijhawan, J. Rankin,-J., B. Walden. “Methane effects on grain boundary formation and intrinsic stress in CVD diamond.” Diamond-Materials: Proc 6th Int’l Symp. Electrochem. Soc., 99-32, (2000): 175-84.
• S. Nijhawan, S.M. Jankovsky, B.W. Sheldon, and B.L. Walden. “Reduction of Intrinsic Stresses During the Chemical Vapor Deposition of Diamond.” J. Mater. Research 14, (1999): 1046-1054.
• S. Nijhawan, J. Rankin, B.L. Walden-BL, B..W. Sheldon. “Grain impingement and intrinsic stresses in CVD diamond.”  In Thin-Films - Stresses and Mechanical Properties VII, (Materials Research Society, Boston, 1998),  415-20.
• W.C. Roman, D.A. Tucker, B.L. Walden, W.H. Sutton, F.A. Otter, and M.T. McClure. “Microwave Plasma Processing of Diamond Coatings for Aerospace Applications: Deposition, Characterization, Performance Evaluation.” J. Amer. Ceram. Soc., (1997): 80.

Professor Walden has been co-principle investigator (with colleagues at Brown University) on three research grants awarded by the National Science Foundation

• “Controlling Stress Evolution in Ceramic Thin Films and Coatings: Investigations of Mechanical and Chemical Responses” ($426,000, 2003 – 2006)
• “Control of Intrinsic Stresses in Ceramic Thin Films and Coatings Produced by Chemical Vapor Deposition” ($431,877,  2000 - 2004)
• “Intrinsic Stress and Grain Alignment in Diamond Films” ($346,206,  1997 - 2000)