Jimmie Doll
Professor of Chemistry:
Chemistry
Phone: +1 401 863 3443
jimmie_doll@brown.edu
The study of complex, many-body chemical phenomena has entered a new and exciting phase. Novel theoretical approaches are emerging that make it possible to examine systems of chemically significant complexity without invoking untestable approximations. Our investigations involve both the formal development and numerical application of these methods.
Biography
NSF Predoctoral Fellow, Harvard (1967-1971)
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, U.C. Berkeley, (1971-1972)
Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Visiting Assistant Professor (1972-1973)
State University of New York, Stony Brook,
Department of Chemistry
Assistant Professor (1973-1975)
Associate Professor (1975-1978)
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Guest Scientist (1/1977-4/1977)
Staff Member (1979-1981)
Laboratory Fellow (1981-1989)
Brown University, Department of Chemistry
Professor of Chemistry (1989-1995)
Jesse H. and Louisa D. Sharpe Metcalf Professor of Chemistry (1995-)
Interests
Systems of principal concern in our research involve interfacial and cluster phenomena. Metal/hydrogen materials are of special interest in our research owing to their phenomenological richness and experimental accessibility. Furthermore, such systems serve as a valuable prototype for the development of the tools necessary for the study of intrinsically quantum mechanical many-body dynamical processes. Current studies utilize both empirical and ab initio theoretical models of the microscopic forces in conjunction with equilibrium and dynamical path integral methods to examine the structural, spectroscopic, and transport properties of such systems. Another area of special interest involves a series of investigations of what might be termed theoretical "landscaping". In chemical or biological problems, a common task is to determine the minimum energy configuration of a complex molecular potential energy surface or "landscape". Such minimization tasks are of general significance in science, and, not surprisingly, have spawned an enormous amount of research within the applied mathematics communities. Although still an active area, these efforts provide us with a broad understanding of the relationship between the general features of the potential energy landscape and the complexity of the associated minimization problem. We seek to reverse the logic of the minimization problem. That is, instead of searching for the minimum energy structures of specified energy landscapes, we strive instead to reshape those landscapes and thereby to exercise control over selected physical systems. In particular, we seek to stabilize and/or kinetically trap conformers that are otherwise either un- or metastable. The chemical, magnetic, and electronic properties of small clusters are often sensitive to their physical structure. Consequently, if we can demonstrate their selective preparation, such metastable species could, in principle, provide the starting point for the assembly of a wide range of novel materials.
Awards
Department Awards in Chemistry, University of Kansas
(1964, 1966, 1967).
Departmental Award in German, University of Kansas (1967).
B.S. Chemistry, With highest distinction, University of
Kansas (1967).
Phi Lambda Upsilon, University of Kansas (1967).
Phi Beta Kappa, University of Kansas (1967).
Federal Republic of Germany, Graduate Exchange Fellowship
(DAAD, 1967) - declined
National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow,
Harvard (1967-1971).
Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award, Harvard (1971).
National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow,
Berkeley (1971-1972).
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1976-1978).
Selection as Laboratory Fellow, Los ALamos National
Laboratory (1981).
Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, University of Texas (1983).
Selected by Science Digest as one of America's 100 Brightest
Scientists Under Age 40 (1984)
Named the Jesse H. and Louisa D. Sharpe Metcalf Professor of Chemistry (1995
Affiliations
Member Department of Energy ASCI Review Panel, University of Utah, September 2002.
Member of Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Chemical Dynamics Review Panel, Boston, May 24-25, 2000.
Member of LDRD Review Panel, Los Alamos National Laboratory,
Los Alamos, NM, August 1999.
Member AFOSR Chemical Dynamics Review Panel, Washington, DC, June 2-3, 1999
Funded Research
U.S. Department of Energy: "Theoretical Studies of Hydrogen Storage Alloys"; $185,784; 9/15/03 - 9/14/06
National Science Foundation, Division of Chemistry (NSF-CHE): "Quantum Studies of Hydrogen Clathrate Hydrates,"; $509,234; 3/01/06 - 2/28/09.
Curriculum Vitae
