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March 2019

Archives for March 2019

Buehler Hall Wins Volunteers First Impression Contest

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While the campus has invested tremendously in new projects in recent years, most employees and students are working and learning in existing spaces.

As part of facilities services Volunteer First Impressions contest: faculty, staff, and students were encouraged to submit an idea for renovating public spaces on campus. Typical suggestions include new carpeting, painting, deep cleaning, adding plants or landscaping, and updating signage.

“This is a way to emphasize that all parts of the university are important and all programs are vital to its mission,” said Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor of Facilities Services. “A lot of people look out at a landscape that hasn’t changed in some time.”

Facilities Services selected 10 entries to receive $10,000 in Facilities Services credit. Work on the projects will begin later in the spring.

“The winners can use the credit not only for labor, but in a wide variety of ways, including interior and exterior furnishings, materials, and landscaping,” Irvin said. “It will be exciting to see the great ideas of our students and employees become reality.”

Buehler Hall Courtyard was the fourth entry selected. The suggestion was submitted by Johnny Jones, The Department of Chemistry’s Technical Director. Johnny recommended the space because the area is “barren.” The courtyard is located just outside of room 300 Buehler, which is a large lecture hall, and it could be utilized as a waiting space for students. 

Vogiatzis Group Published in Chemical Reviews

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The Vogiatzis Group published their work “Computational Approach to Molecular Catalysis by 3d Transition Metals: Challenges and Opportunities” in Chemical Reviews.

Their work discusses the challenges and capabilities of modern electronic structure methods for studying the reaction mechanisms promoted by 3d transition metal molecular catalysts. Particular focus is placed on the ways of addressing the multiconfigurational problem in electronic structure calculations and the role of expert bias in the practical utilization of the available methods.

The development of density functionals designed to address transition metals is also discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the methods that account for solvation effects and the multicomponent nature of practical catalytic systems. This is followed by an overview of recent computational studies addressing the mechanistic complexity of catalytic processes by molecular catalysts based on 3d metals.

Conventionally, computational studies on catalytic mechanisms are heavily dependent on the chemical intuition and expert input of the researcher. Recent developments in advanced automated methods for reaction path analysis hold promise for eliminating such human-bias from computational catalysis studies.