DEDICATIONBradshaw, for his intelligent supervision, constructive guidance, inspiration and patience.His perpetual energy and enthusiasm in research has motivated all his advisees, including me. In addition, he was always accessible and willing to help his students with their research. He is not only the academic role model for me but also a role model of my personal life. Dr. Bradshaw is and will remain my best role model for a scientist, mentor, and teacher.My sincere appreciation extends to other committee members: Dr. Keynton for his generous financial support for my work in the c1eanroom and guidance in questions of microfabrication; Dr. Richards for his assistance with measurements in the lab; Dr. Lian for insightful discussion related to CFD analysis; and Dr. Berfield for his the knowledge of micro fabrication. Moreover, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Alphenaar, who let me work in his lab and use his equipment for this study, and also for offering valuable suggestions and assistance regarding experimental measurements in study. This new information developed in this dissertation helps to advance the state of the art for microresonating beams for gas detection. This information is expected to play a key role as the systems in this work are transitioned to use in practice.vii