Opportunity Description:

Lucas Bao's group (https://www.lucasbaogroup.com) at Boston College develops theories and computer algorithms to reveal the underlying physical principles that govern the complex kinetics and dynamical behaviors of a variety of intriguing chemical systems, ranging from gas-phase collisions to interfacial and condensed-phase reactions, and to biological systems. We are interested in understanding the electronic structures and geometries of reactive intermediates, the reaction mechanisms, and the detailed kinetics of clean-energy-driven catalysis, including electrocatalysis and photocatalysis. We are curious about how reliable our theoretical tools can be for predicting the intricate catalytic kinetic information, for instance, activation energy, binding kinetics, kinetic isotope effect, and selectivity. More importantly, if our current theoretical tools are not adequate, we strive to improve them or create new methods. We also embrace the power of data science and machine learning in some aspects of our research, but with a focus centered on the underlying physics. Another topic in our group is to investigate the interaction between chemistry and our environment. We aim to establish reliable and comprehensive atmospheric chemical kinetics models for studying the fate and distributions of important trace gases and reactive intermediates in the troposphere. ​ Interdisciplinary and innovative, our team brings together quantum mechanics, statistical thermodynamics, solid-state physics, and other branches of physics and applied mathematics to tackle the challenges that arise from the intrinsic complexities of chemistry. We are looking for postdoctoral researchers working on theory development as well as computational applications. We provide a competitive salary following the NIH standards plus a full health benefit.