Alexandra Cassell presenting her poster at MERCURY 2016
Last week Alex, Justin and I traveled (along with the Navea group) to the MERCURY conference at Bucknell University,
a conference devoted to computational chemistry done by undergraduates. Its a a great opportunity to see the wide diversity of work that qualifies as ‘computational chemistry’, everything from really detailed studies of small molecules using high-level theory, to simulations of huge biomolecules with an aim towards discovering better drugs. Not to mention mechanistic organic chemistry, applied materials research, and lots more. Six speakers from research institutions and companies also come in to talk about their careers and research programs. Its a not-to-miss conference every year!
Justin Gerard presenting his poster at MERCURY 2016
Justin and Alex both presented results from their summer research on excited-state time-dependensity density functional theory calculations of indole and tryptophan (respectively). Both spoke for a quick 1-minute abstract talk in front of the entire audience of 100+ attendees and then presented their poster for an hour during the poster session, speaking with other students, faculty at undergraduate colleges, and the six invited speakers. Justin and Alex have posted trip reports. Here are the vital pictures — they both did a great job!