Welcome to the
We are a theoretical chemistry research group at Temple University Dept of Chemistry dedicated to developing and applying advanced electronic-structure and dynamical methods to investigate nonadiabatic phenomena in photon- and electron-driven reactions, with the goal of better understanding radiation damage to DNA.
Most chemical processes follow the Born-Oppenheimer (adiabatic) approximation, in which the nuclei move on a single potential energy surface. However there are important processes where this approximation breaks down. These nonadiabatic events play an important role in essential processes in nature such as photosynthesis, vision, charge transfer and photochemistry. Focus areas are: Photophysics and photochemistry of biologically relevant systems, such as DNA/RNA; Theoretical description of conical intersections and excited states; Understanding laser control of molecular dynamics.
We are looking for passionate new PhD students, Postdocs, and Master students to join the team (more info) !
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News
January 2026Our work on ultrafast excited state dynamics of cis,cis-1,3-cyclooctadiene is published in the Journal of Computational Chemistry. Congratulations! Trevor, on your first reserach paper. Great job and Keep it up!
January 2026Our work on Partial widths is just published in the Journal of Chemical Physics.
October 2025Congratulations! Prof. Spiridoula Matsika on receiving the 2025 ACS Philadelphia Section Award for her exceptional achievements in chemistry!. This award is given to individuals whose work has not only advanced the discipline but has also enhanced public appreciation of the profession.
July 2025Our work on excited state dynamics in o-nitrophenol is published in the Journal of Chemical Physics. Congratulations! Dakshitha, on your first first-author paper. It's time to party.!
March 2025Congratulations! Maneesh, on receiving PROM funding to attend the MolEx workshop, in Torun, Poland, and on being selected for the Telluride School on Theoretical Chemistry.
March 2025Maneesh successfully defended his Original Research Proposal A Deep Learning Approach to Accurate Excited-State Energy Calculations for Large Organic Molecules at the Complete Basis Set Limit. Congratulations! Maneesh, on becoming a Ph.D candidate!!