Virtual Meeting of the Princeton & Trenton ACS Sections
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
“Driving and Deriving Molecular Energetics across the Periodic Table
Angela K. Wilson
John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Michigan State University
and
2022 President, 2023 Past-President of the American Chemical Society (ACS)
Abstract: Over the past sixty years, there have been incredible feats of science – putting a person on the moon, eradicating smallpox, unraveling the structure of DNA, decoding the human genome, and discovering elements of the periodic table up to 118, to name only several. During this time – and, even, before this time, computational chemistry has evolved from addressing atoms and small molecules to proteins, based on principals of quantum mechanics, molecular dynamics, and statistical mechanics. With the advent of artificial intelligence/machine learning and quantum computing, the future possibilities are endless. However, even with these newer dimensions of computational chemistry, the Schrödinger equation – the fundamental equation of quantum mechanics, and so much of computational chemistry – has not been solved exactly (except for a species like H), yet is vital in areas such as developing new catalysts, designing more sustainable solar cells (spin trapping), addressing environmental contaminants (PFAS – “zombie” molecules), and discovering new drugs. The need for energy data spans the periodic table from small molecules to proteins. In the first part of this talk, the challenges in obtaining energetic (thermodynamic) properties of transition metal species and heavy element (lanthanide and actinide) species will be overviewed, including approaches developed by our group.
The second part of this talk will overview some of the activities of the American Chemical Society.
Biography: Angela K. Wilson is the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Michigan State University. She is also the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the MSU College of Natural Sciences and the Director of the MSU Center for Quantum Computing, Science, and Engineering. From 2016-2018, she was the Director (head) of the Division of Chemistry at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). At NSF, she led the strategic direction and national funding priorities in chemistry for NSF, determining research projects at universities across the country that would be funded, responsible for nearly $1B in research investments. Prior to this, she served as Regents Professor and the Associate Vice Provost for Faculty and head of the Office of Faculty Success at the University of North Texas (UNT) , with its `42,000 students and >2,400 faculty. She was the founder and director of the Texas Center for Advanced Scientific Computing and Modeling (CASCaM).
Dr. Wilson earned her Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Minnesota and B.S. in chemistry from Eastern Washington University. She wasa postdoctoral fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Among Dr. Wilson’s honors are Fellow of the American Chemical Society, Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal, IUPAC Distinguished Woman in Chemistry, and the 2023 Iota Sigma Pi National Honorary Award. In 2018, she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. She is on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Physical Chemistry and Cell Reports Physical Chemistry, as well as on the editorial board of Scientific Reports. She has ~200 publications, has given over 400 invited lectures, and has edited six books including “Pioneers of Quantum Chemistry”. She has recently spun off a non-profit company, QuSTEAM, focusing on quantum computing training for the future workforce. She was recently named one of the five most influential women in chemistry in the world and one of the forty most influential women in science in the world over the past decade.
Dr. Wilson has served as President of the Division of Physical and Biophysical Chemistry of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Chair of the Chemistry Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and as the 2022 President and is presently serving as the Past-President of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, with more than 171,000 members and ~2,000 staff. As a part of these ACS roles, she serves on the Board of Directors of ACS, with fiduciary responsibilities for an annual operating budget of ~$700M.
Dr. Wilson’s physical (computational and theoretical) chemistry research spans quantum mechanical and quantum dynamical method development, transition metal and heavy element chemistry, drug discovery, environmental chemistry, catalysis, thermodynamics, and sustainability. .Her computational chemistry methodologies are utilized worldwide. She has mentored >150 students and postdoctoral fellows in her research group.
Registration: Registration is free but required. Prior to the symposium, all who have registered will receive information on how to join the virtual platform. To register, please complete the form below. Note: Confirmation of your registration will appear on this screen.