CoMSEF

The CoMSEF Executive Committee is pleased to announce that Professor Ed Maginn of the University of Notre Dame has been selected as the recipient of the inaugural CoMSEF Early Career Award. This new annual award recognizes outstanding research in our field and was given to Ed at the start of session 113 - Recent Advances in Molecular Simulation Methods I - at 12:30 PM on Monday November 9 in room Tennessee C of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel during the Annual AIChE meeting.

Ed received his B. S. in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1987. He then worked for Procter and Gamble as an operations engineer for three years before entering the graduate program in Chemical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his PhD in 1995 under the direction of Doros Theodorou and Alex Bell. He joined the faculty of Notre Dame in 1995 and is presently Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Ed has over 90 refereed publications and two patents and is the recipient of the Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award from the American Society for Engineering Education as well as an CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. He has also received several teaching awards, including the BP Outstanding Teacher award for the Notre Dame College of Engineering, two John A. Kaneb Awards from the University of Notre Dame and the AIChE Student Chapter Outstanding Teaching Award.

Ed is receiving the CoMSEF Early Career Award for his development of molecular simulation algorithms to study fundamental thermodynamics and transport behavior and his specific contributions to the understanding of nanoporous materials and ionic liquids. CoMSEF Early Career Award recipients must be in the early stages of their professional careers (in academia, industry, or a national laboratory), defined as being within 15 years of completion of the highest degree and be current members of CoMSEF.

Congratulations to the 2009 CoMSEF Graduate Student Award winners:

Dimitrios Argyris (The University of Oklahoma)
Advisor: Alberto Striolo

Gloria A. E. Oxford (Northwestern University)
Advisors: Randall Snurrand Linda Broadbelt

The ballot for the 2009 CoMSEF election is open from October 1 throuth October 21.  There are 3 proposed changes to the bylaws and 2 new Liaison Directors will be elected (to replace Brian Peterson and Ed Maginn who have completed their terms).  Go here to vote: link (you must be logged in to access the ballot, if you don't know your username and/or password go to http://comsef.org/user/password and submit the email address associated with your AIChE account)

The October 2009 CoMSEF newsletter is here: link (pdf)

It contains info about:

• General Meeting in Nashville
• Elections and Bylaw changes
• Early Career Award
• Membership Renewal
• Annual Meeting Sessions
• Research Highlights (2)
• Molecular Simulation API
• Job Postings
• Conferences
• FOMMS 2009

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Chemical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. We are searching for a highly motivated and driven individual looking for research opportunities in molecular biophysics and simulations in a collaborative environment.

The group of Roland Faller in the department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at UC Davis is looking for a postdoctoral researcher for a new project in the field of Cyberdesign of Nanoparticles.

(L) £32,458 - £44,930    (SL) £46,278 - £52,086 

An outstanding and enthusiastic research-focused team player is sought to contribute to our teaching programmes and complement our research interests. The department has a wide range of research interests in areas including biomolecular engineering, low carbon technology and nanostructured materials and we are also interested in candidates with other topical areas of research.  

AIChE's ScaleUp program provides complimentary AIChE student membership for interested U.S. undergraduate students.  This is a new AIChE initiative and is designed to facilitate the relationship between undergraduate students, industry and AIChE. ScaleUp is made possible by sponsorship from BP, Rohm & Haas, DuPont, Praxair, Merck, Dow and UOP. As part of this program COMSEF is pleased to announce that it will offer free membership to undergraduate students, so please enourage any undergraduates that you may have working with you to get involved! 

The minutes from the CoMSEF planning meeting at the AIChE annual meeting in Philadelphia are available here: link.

Congratulations to the 2008 CoMSEF Graduate Student Award winners:

Rachel Getman, University of Notre Dame (link)
Advisor: Bill Schneider

Jeremy Purvis, University of Pennsylvania (link)
Advisor: Scott Diamond

Reminder: Nominations for the 2008 CoMSEF Graduate Student Awards are due by October 1, 2008, to Randy Snurr (snurr@northwestern.edu) (click the ... and fill in the captcha to access the address).

AIChE's Computational Molecular Science and Engineering Forum (CoMSEF) is soliciting nominations for its 2008 graduate student awards recognizing excellence in research by graduate students. The intent of the awards is to reward significant contributions to research in computational molecular science and engineering by students. The award consists of a plaque and an honorarium.  Two awards are given annually. The 2008 awards will be presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

Nominations should consist of a nominating letter from the student's research advisor and the curriculum vitae of the nominee.  These should be sent by the advisor via e-mail in pdf format to the CoMSEF Chair, Randy Snurr (snurr@northwestern.edu), by October 1, 2008. Note that the nomination letter and CV are required and are important parts of the nomination; this is not just a poster competition.

In addition, nominees must present a poster at the CoMSEF Poster session.  The nominee must be a graduate student at the time of the poster presentation, and the faculty nominator must be a member of CoMSEF.

Nominations will be selected by a committee composed of CoMSEF officers based on the student's CV, the nomination letter from the advisor, and the quality of the poster presentation.