Research in the Miller Group, GOES, centers around the spectroscopic detection and characterization of reactive chemical intermediates, e.g. free radicals, ions, and excited electronic states. This data is a prerequisite to our subsequent work on the dynamics and reactions of these intermediates. These studies lead to a detailed understanding of molecular structures, and the nature of chemical bonding and reactivity. These species are key intermediates in combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Once unambiguously identified and analyzed, their spectra provide means for monitoring reactive intermediates in a number of environments such as flames, the atmosphere, interstellar space, etc. Our laboratory often applies a number of complementary spectroscopic technologies to characterize as completely as possible the spectra, structure, and dynamics of important chemical intermediates. Recently work in GOES has centered upon reactive intermediates present in the oxidation of organic molecules, particularly hydrocarbons. These oxidation reactions are responsible for more than 2/3's of the world's energy production from the burning of fossil fuels and they also play key roles in the degradation of the teragram quantities of organic molecules injected annually into the earth's troposphere. More detailed discussion of these techniques, applications, and the corresponding molecular results are given via the links to the left.