Associate Professor of Chemistry William Pfalzgraff Awarded NSF LEAPS Grant
Funding will support Pfalzgraff's research developing methods to make computer simulations of molecules more efficient
William Pfalzgraff, Ph.D., an assistant professor of chemistry at Chatham University, was awarded last week a Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways (LEAPS) in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences grant from the National Science Foundation.
The award, worth $249,950 over two years, will go towards memory-based simulations approaches research. Pfalzgraff and his students at Chatham will develop computational methods to accelerate the calculation of molecular properties from computer simulations.
These studies could open the door to more efficient calculations in research relevant to drug design, advanced materials, and energy production. This work will also create comprehensive pathways for training undergraduate students in theoretical chemistry research using early research exposure, integrating training in programming and mathematics with research, multi-level mentoring, and open-source code development.
“The NSF-LEAPs award in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences is one of the most prestigious grants that a faculty member in a predominantly undergraduate research institution can receive,” says Robert Lettan, Ph.D., chair of the science department at Chatham University. “Earning this grant is a testament to the merit of the research idea proposed and the success Dr. Pfalzgraff has demonstrated to this point, as evidenced by publications in high quality peer-reviewed scientific journals. These funds will enable Dr. Pfalzgraff to support his student-centered research program in computational chemistry over the next couple of years, including paid summer research experiences and conference travel expenses for Chatham students working with him.”
More information about the project is available at nsf.gov.
About the LEAPS grant:
The Launching of Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) project supports the launch of the careers of pre-tenure faculty whose research is in mathematical and physical sciences (MPS) fields at institutions that do not traditionally receive significant amounts of MPS funding, such as Carnegie Research 2 (R2) universities, minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs).