Henkelman named director of CCMS

ICES Professor Graeme Henkelman is the new director of the ICES Center for Computational Molecular Sciences. He will oversee the research of faculty, researchers, postdoctoral researchers and students in the highly active group of chemists, biochemists, and materials developers.

Henkelman is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry from the University of Washington. He is the recipient of an ICES Moncrief Grand Challenge Award.

His research focuses on understanding atomic scale dynamics at surfaces and in materials. One of the important challenges in theoretical chemistry is bridging the gap between the fast time scale on which atoms move and the human time scale on which interesting dynamics take place. The group works to develop computational methods to extend the time scale of dynamics simulations.

Henkelman accepted leadership of the group from Peter Rossky, who left to become Dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences at Rice University.