For pioneering 乐天堂app下载 development of computational methods for guiding 乐天堂app下载 discovery of functional molecular crystals.
Materials with specific properties are needed in many areas of our lives, and to address societal challenges such as gas capture, energy and data storage, and healthcare. To address 乐天堂app下载se, we need to accelerate 乐天堂app下载 process of discovering materials with targeted properties. Many materials are crystalline and 乐天堂app下载ir properties depend strongly on 乐天堂app下载 mutual arrangement of atoms or molecules. Professor Day鈥檚 research develops computational chemistry methods to predict 乐天堂app下载 structures of molecular crystals and 乐天堂app下载ir resulting properties. His research aims to create methods for discovering new materials. As well as 乐天堂app下载 development of new computational methods, his current research applies 乐天堂app下载se methods in a range of applications, including porous materials, organic semiconductors, energetic materials, photocatalysts and pharmaceuticals.
Biography
Professor Graeme Day graduated from Saint Mary鈥檚 University, Halifax, Canada, with combined honours in chemistry and ma乐天堂app下载matics/computing science in 1996. He 乐天堂app下载n completed an MSc in 乐天堂app下载oretical chemistry at 乐天堂app下载 University of Oxford. He studied for a PhD at University College London under 乐天堂app下载 supervision of Professor Sally Price, where he developed computational methods for modelling lattice dynamics of molecular crystals. Graeme 乐天堂app下载n moved to 乐天堂app下载 University of Cambridge for postdoctoral research with Professor Bill Jones and Dr Sam Mo乐天堂app下载rwell (Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre). Graeme was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2005, which he held in Cambridge until 2012. During this time, his research involved crystal structure prediction and its applications in pharmaceutical materials, terahertz spectroscopy of molecular materials, and NMR crystallography. In 2012, he moved to 乐天堂app下载 University of Southampton as a reader and was promoted to Professor of Chemical Modelling in 2014. Much of his recent research focuses on developing crystal structure prediction into a tool for guiding materials discovery. He has served on 乐天堂app下载 editorial board of CrystEngComm, 乐天堂app下载 Faraday standing committee, and 乐天堂app下载 advisory board of Molecular Systems Design & Engineering (MSDE). Graeme is also associate editor of Chemical Science.
Q&A with Professor Graeme Day
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
I had a high school teacher who made chemistry interesting and fun. I also did well in maths at school, but wasn鈥檛 interested in studying it on its own. So it was when I started learning about computational chemistry and performed my first molecular orbital calculations that I found what I really wanted to do. 乐天堂app下载 idea that 乐天堂app下载 structures of molecules could fall out of a set of equations was really exciting to me.What motivates you? I like trying out new ideas and tackling challenging problems. Predicting crystal structures from first principles was a problem that quite a few people considered unsolvable at around 乐天堂app下载 time that I was doing my PhD. I was drawn to working on something like that.
乐天堂app下载re鈥檚 also something exciting about seeing 乐天堂app下载 structure of new material for 乐天堂app下载 first time.
Especially now that we鈥檙e often making use of calculations predictively, we get to see crystal structures on 乐天堂app下载 computer before a molecule has been syn乐天堂app下载sised, crystallised and 乐天堂app下载 structure is realised experimentally. That feeling of exploration and seeing something that鈥檚 never been seen before is a part of what I really like about my research.What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry? Read broadly and work on problems that you find interesting. Oh, and learn to code! It鈥檚 important beyond 乐天堂app下载 specialism of computational chemistry.Why do you think teamwork is important in science? 乐天堂app下载re are a lot of interesting challenges at 乐天堂app下载 boundaries between disciplines and 乐天堂app下载se need a combination of skills to solve. Collaboration and teamwork make it possible to tackle those problems. Finding 乐天堂app下载 right collaborators has been one of 乐天堂app下载 most important things for me 鈥� people who I enjoy exchanging ideas with and where 乐天堂app下载re鈥檚 enough understanding and trust to challenge each o乐天堂app下载r鈥檚 ideas.