Dr. Frank X. Vazquez, Research ASsistant Professor of Chemistry, is seeking an undergraduate research assistant. Projects will involve theoretical/computational chemistry. Students may be able to perform the research for credit under CHEM 499 (supervised research). The requirement for the student would be that they have access to a computer or laptop and that they have some sort of chemistry background (General chemistry, high school chemistry, etc) or basic physics background (general physics, or high school physics).
Research Description from Dr. Vazquez:
My research is focused on unraveling how molecular level changes in structure, bonding, and energy lead to large scale changes in chemical and biological processes. Biological phenomena involve a complex interplay of cellular events occurring at many different timescales.
From a molecular point of view, phenomena in the cell can range from very slow (min to ms) processes, such as protein folding, to very fast (ps to fs) events, such as molecular vibrations. This multiscale nature of cellular systems means that the theoretical methods used to understand them must be able to take into account very different length and time scales. Understanding how large scale cellular phenomena are governed by microscopic molecular and physical interactions requires the development of theoretical and computational methods that can lead to a new multiscale understanding processes occurring in the cell.
Interested? Please contact Dr. Vazquez at fxv@uic.edu.
