Donald G. Truhlar

Born February 27, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, USA

Institute of Technology Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Physics, Nanoparticle Science and Engineering, and Scientific Computation

Email:truhlar@umn.edu
WWW: external link

B.A., St. Mary's College of Minnesota, 1965 Ph. D., California Institute of Technology, 1970. Faculty, University of Minnesota, 1969–present. Visiting Fellow, Battelle Memorial Institute, 1973. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, 1973. Visiting Fellow, Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, 1975–76. ACS, Subdivision of Theoretical Chemistry, Secretary 1981–89. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Associate Editor, 1984–present. Conference on the Dynamics of Molecular Collisions, elected 1981, Chairman 1985. Theoretical Chemstry Accounts (Theoretica Chimica Acta), Editor 1985–98. American Chemical Society, National Councilor, elected 1984, served 1985–87. Fellow of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, 1985–present. Fellow of the American Physical Society, 1986. Computer Physics Communications, Editor, 1986–present. American Conference on Theoretical Chemistry, elected 1981, Chairman 1987. Director of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, 1988–2006. ACS, Task Force on Publication in Molecular Modeling, Chairman 1992. NSF Creativity Award, 1993. International Symposium on Computational Molecular Dynamics, Chairman 1994. Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994. George Taylor/Institute of Technology Alumni Society Distinguished Service Award, 1998. ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2000. Minnesota Award, 2003 ("for outstanding contributions to the chemical sciences"). National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Reviewing, 2004. University of Minnesota Inventor Recognition Award, 2005. ACS Peter Debye Award for Physical Chemistry, 2006. Lise Meitner Lectureship Award, 2006. Schrödinger Medal of The World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists, 2006. International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, elected 2006.

Author of:

Author of more than 700 journal articles and more than 70 book chapters; editor or co-editor of 13 books.

Important Contributions:

theoretical chemical dynamics of chemical reactions; quantum mechanical scattering theory of chemical reactions and molecular energy transfer; electron scattering; theoretical kinetics and chemical dynamics; potential energy surfaces and molecular interactions; path integrals; variational transition state theory; the use of electronic structure theory for calculations of chemical structure, reaction rates, electronically nonadiabatic processes, and solvation effects; photochemistry; combustion chemistry; heterogeneous, homogeneous, and enzyme catalysis; atmospheric and environmental chemistry; drug design; nanoparticle structure and energetics; density functional theory