The University of California, Merced is a dynamic new university campus in Merced, California, which opened in September 2005 as the tenth campus of the University of California and the first American research university in the 21st century. In a period of rapid expansion, UC Merced is located in California’s San Joaquin Valley, within driving distance of Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada, the Bay Area and the Monterey peninsula. Our students have access to major facilities on campus, such as computing clusters, state-of-the-art laser systems, an electron microscopy facility, a nanofabrication facility and NMR. We collaborate with nearby institutions such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, UC Davis, and UC Santa Cruz.

 

We currently have four faculty members in the physics and chemistry departments working on electronic structure theory, with further hires planned, and we invite applications for our PhD programs. We work with centers on campus including the NASA-funded Merced NAnomaterials Center for Energy and Sensing (MACES) and state-funded University of California Advanced Solar Technologies Institute (UC Solar). All doctoral students in good standing are eligible for year-round financial support, including payment of fees and tuition. Teaching assistantships normally provide initial funding, which can be supplemented by research funding, fellowships or other forms of financial assistance.

 

Applications deadlines are Jan. 15 though earlier applications are encouraged and will receive priority review. A limited number of application fee waivers are available to qualified applicants. Applications are to the PhD program rather than an individual professor, but prospective students are highly encouraged to contact faculty of interest. For more information on the specific programs, check the attached flyers and see: 

 

Faculty working in electronic structure:

Prof David Strubbe (physics, chemistry), http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/dstrubbe,
Computational and theoretical condensed-matter physics and chemistry; excited-state electronic-structure methods, amorphous materials, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, scientific code development for high-performance computing.

 

Prof Hrant Hratchian (chemistry), http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/hhratchian, 

Developments in quantum chemistry and potential energy surface exploration; computational inorganic chemistry; mechanistic study and rational design of transition metal catalysts.

 

Prof Christine Isborn (chemistry), http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/cisborn,

Developing and applying electronic structure theory, molecular dynamics and QM/MM methods to the modeling of photochemistry and solvation.

 

Prof Liang Shi (chemistry), http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/lshi4,

Developing and applying multi-scale modeling methods to understand the structure, dynamics and spectroscopy of complex condensed-phase molecular systems.