We'd like to solicit participation in our upcoming session on electronic structure theory and catalysis applications at the 2015 AIChE annual meeting in Salt Lake City, UT which runs from November 8-13, 2015. Submitted abstracts will likely be scheduled for 15-20 minute oral presentations with 5 minutes for questions at the AIChE annual meeting. 

The focus of this session is to bring together electronic structure theorists/developers along with individuals who are engaged in using electronic structure tools for the discovery and development of mechanistic understanding of catalytic materials that optimize efficiency in chemical reaction networks. The study of catalysis necessitates an understanding of strongly correlated materials through the proper treatment of both short and long-range exchange and correlation, effective descriptions of dispersion for physisorption events, and efficiently scaling electronic structure methods that can treat both solid-state and interfacial phenomena (e.g. at a solid-liquid interface).

In addition to contributed talks, the following invited speakers will discuss their recent work in electronic structure method development (both wavefunction theory or density functional theory and beyond):
Ismaila Dabo (Penn State University)
Leeor Kronik (Weizmann Institute)
Todd Martinez (Stanford University)

The abstract deadline is soon (Monday, May 11) - only 19 days away! For historical reasons, the session is entitled “Applications of DFT+X in Catalysis”, but please do not let that deter you if you’d like to present work from a non-DFT or non-+X perspective! We are very eager to see any new and exciting developments or discoveries.

To submit an abstract:
1. Go to https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2015/cfp.cgi

2. Click on “Begin a Submission” on "20 | CATALYSIS AND REACTION ENGINEERING DIVISION”

3. Select "20024 Applications of DFT+X in Catalysis” and then click “Save and Continue"

If you have any confusion regarding the abstract submission system or you or one of your students would like additional information about the conference and session, please do not hesitate to contact me ([email protected]) or Ye Xu ([email protected]), as we are co-chairing this session.

Also of potential interest for postdocs or students, the “meet the faculty candidate” poster session (in Area 4: Education) is a premier location to interface with search committees regarding academic job openings as well.

Many thanks,

Heather Kulik & Ye Xu