Education
1995 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
1987 D.Sc. (Chemistry), Birmingham University, UK
1966 Ph.D. (Chemistry), Birmingham University, UK
1963 B.Sc. (Hons. Chemistry), Birmingham University, UK

Honors & Awards
University Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University, 1988-Present
Excellence in Teaching Award, Northeastern University, 1981, 1993, and 1999
Lifetime Teaching Award, Northeastern University, 2004

Research Interests

Prof. Davies leads the Humic Acids Research Group that is studying the isolation, purification, properties and structures of humic acids (HAs), the brown polymers responsible for water retention, metal binding and solute adsorption in soils and sediments.  HAs in the earth contain more carbon than in all living things.  HAs stick to clays and minerals, which prevents them from being washed away.

	A proposed humic acid building block

Prof. Davies’ group has developed techniques for the purification and preparation of standard samples of humic acids from a variety of sources, as well as techniques for their characterization and analysis.  They were the first to isolate HAs from a live plant. Their work indicates that HAs isolated from different sources and from different countries have the same or similar metal binding sites and molecular structures. Under study to provide an understanding of HAs environmental roles are the immobilization of HAs by attachment to clays and minerals for bioremediation applications and the effects of bound metals on HAs adsorptive properties.  Better understanding of the structure and properties of HAs informs proper agriculture, soil creation, maintenance and remediation practices.  The Humic Acid Research Group hosts the annual international Humic Science & Technology Conferences at Northeastern (see www.hagroup.neu.edu).

Selected Publications

Ghabbour, Elham A.; Scheinost, Andreas C.; Davies, Geoffrey. XAFS studies of cobalt(II) binding by solid peat and soil-derived humic acids and plant-derived humic acid-like substances. Chemosphere(2007), 67(2), 285-291.

Davies, Geoffrey. The Kinetics of Formation and Dissociation of Aquocobalt(III) Complexes with Some Carboxylic Acids. J. Phys. Chem. B (2007), 111, 6955-6961.

Timofeevna Shirshova, Ludmila; Ghabbour, Elham A.; Davies, Geoffrey. Spectroscopic characterization of humic acid fractions isolated from soil using different extraction procedures. Geoderma (2006), 133(3-4), 204-216.