NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute for FY 2012 in China

Piazza Zachary A, Providence RI

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Zachary A. Piazza of Brown University to conduct a research project, entitled "Potential building blocks for novel materials: a joint theoretical and experimental study of highly symmetric transition-metal-centered gold clusters," during the summer of 2012 at Tsinghua Univeristy in Beijing, China. The host scientist is Professor Jun Li. The Intellectual Merit of this research project lies in its potential to discover and understand the electronic structure of building blocks to new and useful materials while testing and aiding in the improvement of state of the art calculation methods generally useful for chemists studying many types of chemical systems. The four systems being characterized each contain one transition metal atom surrounded by 9 gold atoms. This is being done through performing theoretical relativistic quantum chemical calculations and comparing these calculations with experimental photoelectron spectroscopy data. The Broader Impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce.