Dear group members,
I have become quite popular recently with MIT :) I gave a talk a couple
weeks ago in their condensed matter physics seminar, and now I am giving
the talk below tomorrow. I am home preparing it. It is 50% green-sulfur
bacteria, 50% organic photovoltaics, for a general audience.
Feel free to come if you want, as you see, there is a reception
afterward. It is apparently a high-profile talk at MIT :)
I am working on that today, and on the manuscripts that a few of you
have sent me, which come after I finish preparing for tomorrow.
Alan
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FW: Tuesday - Alan Aspuru-Guzik - Bacterial light harvesting
antennas and perspectives for new organic materials for solar cells
Resent-From: <aspuru(a)chemistry.harvard.edu>
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2012 10:27:26 +0000
From: Karen L Gibson <kgibson(a)MIT.EDU>
To: aspuru(a)chemistry.harvard.edu <aspuru(a)chemistry.harvard.edu>
CC: Jameson Twomey <jtwomey(a)mit.edu>
Dear Prof. Aspuru-Guzik,
I am forwarding the email announcement that we have sent out. Please
feel free to share with colleagues.
Kind regards,
Karen
MITEI: MIT Energy Initiative
<http://mitei.mit.edu/calendar/mitei-seminar-series>
Learning from Nature: Bacterial light harvesting antennas and
perspectives for new organic materials for solar cells
*Alán Aspuru-Guzik*
/Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology/
Harvard University
Tuesday, October 9
4:15 PM
/Reception to follow/
Room 66-110 <http://whereis.mit.edu/?go=66>
MITEI
*Abstract*
Green-sulfur bacteria is a remarkable organism that can carry out
photosynthesis in low-light conditions such as those present in the
bottom of the ocean or moonlight. In this talk, geared for a general
scientific audience, I will describe my group's efforts to understand
how this organism harvests sunlight so efficiently. I will proceed to
describe the possible implications of these light-harvesting mechanisms
for enhancing energy transport in organic materials. I will end by
briefly discussing our screening efforts for materials for organic solar
cells using computer time from distributed donors around the world.
*About the speaker*
*Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik* is currently Associate Professor of
Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, where he started
his independent career in 2006. Alán received his undergraduate degree
in Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in
1999. He received the Gabino Barreda Medal from UNAM, which prizes the
top achiever in each field of study. After receiving his PhD in Physical
Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004, under
Professor William A. Lester, Jr., he was a postdoctoral scholar in the
group of Martin Head-Gordon at UC Berkeley from 2005-2006.
Professor Aspuru-Guzik carries out research at the interface of quantum
information and chemistry. In particular, he is interested in the use of
quantum computers and dedicated quantum simulators for chemical systems.
He has studied the role of quantum coherence in excitonic energy
transfer in photosynthetic complexes, and developed methodology for
studying the spectroscopy of molecules in nanoscale environments. He and
his group recently developed a density functional theory for open
quantum systems. He leads the Clean Energy Project: a distributed
computing effort for screening renewable energy materials.
In 2009, Professor Aspuru-Guzik recently received the DARPA Young
Faculty Award, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award and
the Sloan Research Fellowship. In 2010, he received the
Everett-Mendelsson Graduate Mentoring Award and received the HP
Outstanding Junior Faculty award by the Computers in Chemistry division
of the American Chemical Society. In the same year, he was selected as a
Top Innovator Under 35 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Technology Review magazine.
*The Seminar Series is made possible with the generous support of IHS-CERA*
IHS-CERA <http://www.ihs.com/products/cera/>
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