AVVISO DI SEMINARIO

Prof. Feng Wang

 (Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia)

Quantum Mechanical Driven Discoveries in Molecular Iomerization

The world is changing and we are now entering a digital age. The nature presents us a cohort of very complex and interconnected phenomena which require theory guided smart experimental design. A large number of measurements, such as synchrotron sourced spectroscopic experiments measure physical properties of materials, which should be predictable, in principle, by solving the quantum-mechanical equations governing their constituent electrons. Such calculations require only a small number of chemical elements in appropriate positions through forces. As a result, theory plays a more and more important role to guide smarter experimental design. This presentation will cover a broad spectrum of quantum mechanical driven discoveries in molecular spectroscopy (IR, XPS, EMS, NMR etc.) and isomerization in recent years at Swinburne University (Melbourne, Australia) through international collaborations. In particular, the narrative of years’ collaboration leading to breakthrough of the structure of ferrocene a sandwich organometallic compound using theory guided synchrotron source IR spectroscopy, will be presented.

Bio: Feng Wang is Professor of Chemistry and Deputy Chair of Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology at Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia). Born and educated in China, Feng received her PhD degree in theoretical chemistry at the University of Newcastle (NSW, Australia, 1994), worked at the University of Waterloo (1994-1996) as an NSERC Canada International Fellow and was a research fellow at School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne (1996-2000). After a short period at a supercomputer centre, she joined Swinburne University of Technology in 2003. Feng has led many theoretical/computational chemistry driven discoveries in a broad spectrum of applications in medicinal and biological systems, solar energy (organic DSSCs), chemistry and physics.

She is elected Fellow of RACI and Fellow of AIP and has published over 150 peer reviewed journal articles. She is currently on Academic Sabbatical Leave jointly at Bio21 (School of Chemistry) and School of Physics as an Honorary Professor of University of Melbourne.