Past Meetings

Organizers: Michael Grünwald, Assistant Prof, (University of Utah), Jim De Yoreo, Chief Scientist (PNNL) and Affiliate Prof. (University of Washington)

This symposium will bring together experimental and theoretical researchers focused on understanding different mechanisms and interactions that drive the formation of a wide range of complex materials from atomistic and molecular crystals to nanoparticle superlattices and supramolecular assemblies. Sessions of this focus topic will address fundamental questions of materials design and assembly: What roles do non-classical nucleation mechanisms play in structure formation? What is the true cluster distribution and associated free energy landscape leading to nucleation? What selects for speciation pathways in building complex lattices? How can interactions between building blocks be designed to yield desired target structures? How can functional and highly crystalline structures be achieved in the synthesis of porous materials?

Invited Speakers (10):

• Mechanisms of Structure Formation
  Alex van Driessche (Grenoble)
  Valeria Molinero (University of Utah)
  Chris Mundy (PNNL)

• Controlling the Interactions That Lead to Complex Nano-materials
  Kristin Fichthorn (Penn State)
  Dmitri Talapin (University of Chicago)
  Ulrich Wiesner (Cornell)

• Self-assembly of Nano-porous Materials From Solution
  William Dichtel (Northwestern)
  Jeff Rimer (Northwestern)

• Supramolecular Self-assembly
  Steve Whitelam (Molecular Foundry, LBNL)
  Vinny Manoharan (Harvard University)

Organizers: Anastassia N. Alexandrova (University of California, Los Angeles), Michael White (Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University)

The session will be shaped around the theme of tuning clusters in all ways to which they are sensitive, such as size and composition, nature of the support, and nature of the environment (temperature, pressure, electric potential, irradiation) for manipulating their chemical properties. Probing cluster-based interfaces with state-of-the-art theoretical and experimental methods is emphasized. The contributions that probe the morphological heterogeneity, fluxionality, and dynamical nature of the cluster-based interfaces are particularly welcome. We aim for a dialogue centered on the contrast between the ensemble nature of such interfaces, and the single site insight.

Invited speakers (11):

• Theorists
  Stefano Fabris (University of Trieste, Italy)
  Tetsuya Taketsugu (Hokkaido University, Japan)
  Gianfranco Pacchioni (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
  Uzi Landman (Georgia Tech, USA)
  Phlippe Sautet (UCLA, UCLA)

• Experimentalists
  Beatriz Roldan Cuenya (Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany)
  Scott Anderson (University of Utah, USA)
  Phillip Christopher (UC Riverside, USA)
  Yoshihide Watanabe (TOYOTA Central R&D Labs. Inc., Japan)
  Stefan Vajda (Argonne National Laboratory and Yale University, USA)
  Ueli Heiz (Technical University of Munich, Germany)

Organizers: Felipe Herrera, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Jeff Owrutsky, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)

The session will highlight recent breakthroughs in the field of strong coupling between confined electromagnetic fields and electronic or vibrational transitions, the fundamentals of molecule-light interaction in microcavities and plasmonic nanostructures, and applications. Emphasis will be given to emerging theoretical and experimental studies of surface-enhanced optical and terahertz molecular spectroscopy, cavity-induced modifications of energy and charge transfer processes, and polariton photodynamics in molecular systems.

Invited Speakers (11):

• Harry Atwater, Caltech
• Jeremy J. Baumberg, Cambridge
• Thomas Ebbesen, Strausbourg
• Timur Shegai, Chalmers University
• James V. Coe, Ohio State
• Naomi Halas, Rice
• Christian Huck, Heidelberg
• Johannes Feist, Autonoma Madrid
• Shaul Mukamel, UC Irvine
• Frank Spano, Temple
• Joel Yuen-Zhou, UCSD

Organizers: Laura Gagliardi, University of Minnesota, Toru Shiozaki, Northwestern University

The aim of the symposium is to bring together world experts on electronic structure theories and nonadiabatic dynamics to discuss state-of-the-art research on photochemical dynamics and future directions of these fields.

Invited Speakers (10):

• Leticia Gonzalez (Vienna), ES/DY
• Igor Schapiro (Jerusalem), DY
• Tim Berkelbach (U Chicago), DY
• Eric Neuscamman (Berkeley), ES
• Filipe Furche (UCI), ES
• Joe Sobotnik (U Penn), DY
• Anna Krylov (USC), ES
• Roland Lindh (Sweden), ES
• Irene Burghardt (Germany), DY
• Donald Truhlar (Minnesota) DY

Organizers: Jianzhong Wu, University of California at Riverside, Kieron Burke, University of California at Irvine

This focus session aims to provide a synergistic platform to stimulate discussions and exchange new ideas among researchers from all camps of density functional theory (DFT). We welcome contributions in recent developments including not only the traditional Kohn-Sham methods but also those related to density matrix functionals, thermal DFT, joint DFT, various forms of classical DFT, and time-dependent or dynamic extensions.

Invited speakers (11):

• Andrew Archer, Loughborough University
• T. A. Arias, Cornell University
• Daniel Borgis, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris
• Bob Evans, University of Bristol
• Dirk Gillespie, Rush Medical College
• E.K.U. Gross, Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
• Hartmut Löwen, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
• Neepa T. Maitra, City University of New York
• Thomas F. Miller, III, California Institute of Technology
• Mike Payne, University of Cambridge
• Weitao Yang, Duke University

Organizer: Scott L Anderson

Anatoly I. Frenkel, Stony Brook University
Advances in nanoparticle structure characterization by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Gregory K. Schenter, Pacific Northwest National Lab
Mass density fluctuations in quantum and classical descriptions of liquid water

Hendrik Bluhm, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Reversed interfacial fractionation of carbonate and bicarbonate evidenced by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy

Gregory A. Voth, University of Chicago
IR spectral assignments for the hydrated excess proton in liquid water

Annabella Selloni, Princeton University, USA
Photocatalysis on metal oxides: insights from simulations