I am a professor of chemistry at Appalachian State University in Boone NC. My research interests are focused on computational quantum chemistry. I have been a funded user at the North Carolina Supercomputing Center since it opened in the fall of 1988. I currently use the the Silicon Graphics Onyx computer and the Cray T-90 vector supercomputer in my research work. This work is currently directed towards understanding the behavior of a class of catalysts that are used in the manufacture of powerful but environmentally friendly insecticides.
My teaching duties include general chemistry and its lab, physical chemistry lecture and lab and various seminars and special topics courses. In the physical chemistry lecture course I get accounts for students on machines at the supercomputing center. They use these accounts for quantum chemistry projects that have included such things as studying band gaps in semi-conductors, base pair interactions in DNA, depolymerization catalysts, and IR spectra of small molecules. I also have an interest in computational science education and include a computational experiment in the first semester physical chemistry lab.
I am interested in water sports of several kinds. I have been known to paddle a whitewater kayak, a decked canoe, solo and tandem open canoes, and various rafts. I swim to try to stay in shape (a bit over a mile at least three times a week).