Two MSI PIs from the chemistry department are celebrating significant anniversaries at the department and the University of Minnesota. An article appears on the department’s website: Two Professors Celebrate Decades of Research, Teaching, and Service.
Professor Wayne Gladfelter is celebrating 40 years at the University. Besides his teaching and research work, Professor Gladfelter served as the department chair for six years beginning in 1999 and has taken on numerous roles at the U of M and the wider scientific community. His current work using MSI consists of two projects. One involves determining possible reaction mechanisms of molecular precursors used for the deposition of metal oxide films using hybrid molecular beam epitaxy. The second uses computational methods to evaluate the ground and excited states of molecular dyes that may be valuable for photovoltaics.
Regents Professor Don Truhlar has been at the University for 50 years and is one of the top theoretical and computational chemists in the world. He has used MSI’s resources since the Institute’s very early days in the mid-1980s, and served as the MSI Director for nearly 20 years. His current work at MSI includes multiple, diverse projects in theoretical and computational chemistry with a large group of students, researchers, and international colleagues. One of the photos in the chemistry department’s story is of Professor Truhlar and the University of Minnesota’s first supercomputer, a Cray-1.