Since June 2011, I have been on the faculty at Skidmore College, a nationally-ranking liberal arts college, teaching physical chemistry and advising research with undergraduates. For the previous three years, I taught general chemistry and advised research at Siena College, another liberal arts college near Albany, NY.
My specialty is theoretical and computational chemistry. I solve chemistry problems by deriving formulas and calculating things (with my own, or someone else's, software). In practical terms, I use math and computers instead of flasks and rotovaps.
Research
I am starting a project to discover new fluorophores for single-molecule spectroscopy with ab initio calculations. Can we predict their emission wavelength? Intensity? By what path, and how long until, any given flurophore photobleaches? How are all these properties affected by the molecular environment? I am starting with analyzing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using Gaussian and computing time at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, thanks to support from the XSEDE (formerly TeraGrid) project.
I am engaging several undergraduates in this research, learning how to use computational chemistry software such as Gaussian and Spartan to calculate molecular properties that would otherwise by difficult and expensive to determine experimentally. If you're a Skidmore student interested in this type of research, come by and chat. I am interested in working with students of any year who want to learn more about chemistry, physics, math, and computers.
I have another active project engaging undergraduates called Nature’s Numbers, which involves students from any science major, including first-years! We're organizing the wide-world of scientific measurements into a publicly available database, to help people understand how small and large different physical quantities are.
I am bringing computational and theoretical chemistry into the undergraduate curriculum. I am strengthening the role of computational chemistry (using a WebMO/Gaussian server at NCSA) in the physical chemistry courses at Skidmore. I am also working with a student to develop Mathematica worksheets to help math-shy students do otherwise laborious calculations while still developing an appreciation for fundamental principles and intuition about results for quantum chemistry. In collaboration with Jodi O'Donnell, an inorganic chemist at Siena College, I developed a computational chemistry activity where students learn how to construct their own Walsh diagrams and understand molecular orbital-molecular geometry relationships for the inorganic chemistry curriculum. A paper describing the activity and the confusion about Walsh diagrams in the research and pedagogical literature has recently been published by The Chemical Educator.
For more invasiveness, you can check out my CiteULike library to see what things I'm (planning on) reading.
Prior to my independent career, I was a graduate student at the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department of Cornell University, working with Greg Ezra on the quantum and semi-quantum mechanics of rigid rotating molecules in electric fields. I completed my dissertation in the summer of 2005. Generally, my coursework concentrated on chemical physics (quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, classical dynamics) and applied mathematics (including differential geometry and computational physics).
Teaching
For the 2011-2012 academic year, I am teaching physical chemistry at Skidmore College (lectures and labs, two semesters of each).
From Fall 2008 to Spring 2011, I taught chemistry at Siena College to classes of no more than 35 students. (Labs: no more than 16). Primarily I taught general chemistry (lectures and labs). I also supervised the senior research experience ("Integrated Lab 4").
In Spring 2009, I designed and taught a brand new graduate course on statistical thermodynamics at SUNY-Albany. The primary text was Molecular Driving Forces by Ken Dill and Sarina Bromberg, a unique approach to the subject emphasizing simple "lattice model" calculations to support understanding of far-flung phenomena.
In Spring 2008 (and 2010) I designed and taught a brand new graduate course on computational chemistry at SUNY-Albany. This course brings chemistry students (none of them conducting research in pure physical or theoretical chemistry) quickly up to speed in quantum mechanics to understand electronic structure calculations applied to chemical problems.
In Fall 2007, I taught general chemistry at SUNY-Albany with 350 students, with complete responsibility for course design, lecturing, and examinations. (Have you ever taught 350 students at once? Your first time teaching a whole college course? I actually liked it (once I realized I was running a one-man theatrical production, not just lecturing) but I prefer smaller classes where I get to know my students, to better serve them.)
Publications (peer-reviewed)
(undergraduate co-authors underlined)- W. W. Kennerly, K. B. Billings, A. G. Geragotelis, J. L. O'Donnell, "A computational approach to Walsh correlation diagrams for the inorganic chemistry curriculum",
Chem. Educator 17, 57–63, 2012 - Y. Xue and W. W. Kennerly, "Quantum trajectory analysis of single-photon control from a single-molecule source",
J. Chem. Phys. 128, 054104, 2008 - C. A. Arango, W. W. Kennerly, and G. S. Ezra, "Semiclassical IVR approach to rotational excitation of nonpolar diatomic molecules by nonresonant laser pulses",
Chem. Phys. Lett. 420, 296–303, 2006 - W. W. Kennerly, "Molecules rotating in electric fields by quantum and semi-quantum mechanics"
Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University, 2005 - C. A. Arango, W. W. Kennerly, and G. S. Ezra, "Quantum and classical mechanics of diatomic molecules in tilted fields",
J. Chem. Phys. 122, 184303, 2005 - C. A. Arango, W. W. Kennerly, and G. S. Ezra, "Quantum monodromy for diatomic molecules in combined electrostatic and pulsed nonresonant laser fields",
Chem. Phys. Lett. 392, 486–492, 2004
Extracurriculars
Alpha Chi Sigma, backpacking, bowling, orienteering