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

Walker Benjamin A, Kansas City MO

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Benjamin Walker from The University of Missouri, Kansas City to conduct a research project, entitled "A new method for computing the excited state electronic structure of solids," during the summer of 2012 at Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) in Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The host scientist is Prof. Kazuyoshi Ogasawara of the KGU chemistry department. The electronic structure of a solid determines its basic material properties. For materials such as lighting phosphors and laser host crystals it is important to understand the electronic structure that results when an electron is excited by interaction with light. In such an event it will gain energy and occupy an excited state, but it will still be bound to the material because of the remaining attraction to the atomic nuclei. The complexity of the many interacting electrons makes it difficult to calculate these levels precisely for realistic models of materials that include dopants and vacancies. The intellectual goal of this project is to develop one particular component of a tool to compute these states for complex systems that would otherwise be untreatable. 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.