New podcast episode!
In this episode Sam and I are joined by Professor Chris Cramer from the University of Minnesota. Show notes after the embedded player.
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All times are approximate (± 2 minutes):
1:45 - What is computational chemistry? Also, my phone goes off right next to the microphone during a question I can't reasonably edit around.
4:00 - Chemistry (or at least computational chemistry) seems to have its own definition of "theory".
5:30 - What types of questions does Chris work on? Chris talks about different scales of calculations: Length, time, and energy. Each of which bring their own insight and problems to the table (computer?).
8:30 - What system have you worked on in the past that you're glad to be done with?
9:15 - Odd projects that are "finished" often launch new research.
9:45 - Collaboration with experimentalists.
13:30 - Computational chemistry as a guide to experiment.
15:00 - Nobel prize in Chemistry.
19:00 - Paul from ChemBark gives his prediction for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. See the full Google Hangout .
21:00 - The H-Index
22:00 - Where does computational chemistry go from here?
23:00 - What are the limitations in computational chemistry? Chris talks about messy systems. Do we need more computing power or do we need a new theory?
28:00 - Accuracy in computational chemistry. Chad gives a bad analogy. No really, it's bad (it works perfectly in his head, though).
29:00 - More thoughts about collaboration with experimentalists. The take home: If you go to Prof Cramer and he says "We should write a proposal" it may just be because you haven't thought about it enough yourself.
31:00 - Chris explains what a wavefunction is (with a much better analogy than the one Chad gave).
33:00 - What is the life of a computational chemist like? What should a student do to prepare?
39:00 - Chris brings up the impostor syndrome. Two episodes in a row now. Chad loves nothing more than listing the things he's not good at.
41:00 - Computational chemistry in Sci-Fi boks and movies.
45:00 - The Fortnightly Scientist. Chris talks about grandfather to his children Paul Dowd and his work with Non-Kekulé biradicals. Chemists will love this section. Non-chemists may need the wikipedia article to understand (but it will be worth your time. These molecules are pretty cool).
