My
research involves undergraduate students in all stages of the work. Student
research projects usually begin with a series of informal group discussions
led by more experienced research students or myself. W
e
discuss a wide variety of topics that prepare students to make significant
intellectual contributions to their project. Discussions focus
on topics such as literature searching, understanding potential
energy surfaces, continuum solvent models, conformational searching methods,
algorithms for solving the Schrodinger equation, criteria for evaluating the
reliability of a quantum mechanical or conformational result, becoming proficient
in running unix and linux on SGI, Sun and Beowulf computers, and learning
to use various computational chemistry software packages such as MacroModel,
Maestro, Gaussian, Jaguar and in-house code. Students work side-by-side with
me to construct, monitor and evaluate their calculations. The opportunity
to perform undergraduate research becomes a capstone experience for students,
allowing them to construct, control and complete a project. It offers them
the opportunity to develop strong professional and personal relationships
with me and with the other highly motivated students in my group.
Students
gain experience presenting their work at weekly research group
meetings as well as bimonthly departmental research seminars and regional
and national meetings. My students have been responsible for more than 37
research presentations at national American Chemical Society (ACS) or Council
on Undergraduate Research (CUR) meetings. My students have requested and/or
received research or scholarship funds from the the Barry M. Goldwater
Foundation, the ACS Scholars Program, the United Negro College Fund/Merck
program, the Council on Undergraduate Research, the Sigma Xi Scientific
Honor Society and the local Rochester section of the ACS.
Chemistry
is a social, collaborative endeavor and involvement in an exciting undergraduate
research project is the key to cultivating and retaining student interest
in the sciences. I believe that mentoring undergraduate student involvement
in cutting edge research is a valuable and integral part of being a research
active chemist. My background in electrostatics, quantum mechanics, molecular
dynamics, Monte Carlo methods and free energy perturbation has enabled me
to build an active research program involving 34 undergraduates in the past
six years at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.