Achievement

The application of theoretical analyses to understand nanoscale phenomena is an underlying cross-disciplinary theme of the NSMS IGERT. Development of theoretical tools at longer length and time scales will be essential to develop microsystems from nanoscale materials. Frequently, experimental probes are unable to provide a detailed view of the underlying molecular level mechanisms (for example in catalysis and biocatalysis). Knowledge of the basic molecular interactions is essential if these materials are to be optimized for incorporation into microsystems. At UNM, we lacked courses to prepare IGERT fellows to access the broad set of theoretical and simulation tools to interpret their experimental data and test out new ideas before implementing them in the laboratory. We initiated a new course on DFT that was offered for the first time in Spring 2007. During the last year, we were able to create a second course on computational modeling that emphasizes larger length scales.