Environmental Engineering Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Mario Blanco, Director, Materials and Process Simulation Center
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CATitle: Computational Chemistry Solutions to Problems of Environmental Interest.Abstract:The environmental sciences are beginning to take advantage of recent progress in two areas of computational science: the arrival of affordable supercomputing and the availability of user-friendly numerical codes for accurate solutions of Newton's equations of motion and the quantum mechanical Schrödinger equation. In combination with experiments these computational methods can help build new hypotheses that expand the nature and depth of the questions being asked in the environmental sciences. How is it that forests seem to "control" rain precipitation? Can multiphase (liquid/vapor) equilibrium in atmospheric aerosol be predicted solely from knowledge of the chemical composition of a complex mixture? Can the concentrations of vapor bound organic compounds be detected by an E-nose? On more global issues related to environmentally friendly energy production new questions can be addressed by means of computational chemistry. What are the molecular characteristics of oil migration distance indicators? What materials are needed in order to produce affordable fuel cells? What are the mechanisms of proton transfer responsible for their high efficiency? We will illustrate some of these recent applications of computational chemistry in the environmental sciences and entertain questions.

Location: Seeley G. Mudd Bldg., Room 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes