Prof. James Skinner, University of Wisconsin

Water (liquid, ice and clusters): Structure, dynamics, hydrogen-bonding, and vibrational spectroscopy

Vasser Woolley Distinguished Lecture

While the water molecule itself is quite simple, small and large collections of water molecules in clusters and condensed phases are exceptionally complex.   I will describe our efforts to understand the structure and dynamics of water through classical molecular dynamics simulation of a model with explicit two- and three-body interactions.  In addition I will discuss cooperative hydrogen-bonding in water, and its relationship to several types of frequency- and time-domain vibrational spectroscopy.  The latter will be described theoretically with a quantum-mechanical vibrational exciton Hamiltonian, and extensive comparison with experiment will be presented.

Vasser Woolley Foundation

The beginnings of the Vasser Woolley Foundation where set in motion in 1917 through a family business, the Seydel-Woolley Company, which processed chemicals, particularly sizing, for the textile industry.  Two generations of Seydels and Woolleys, some of whom are prominent Georgia Tech alumni, managed the company and guided it through several successful iterations. As the company grew into the late 60’s and 70’s, the major users of their products were in the coatings, textile, construction, mining, and adhesives industries. The Seydel Companies, as they are known today, develop, manufacture and market textile process chemicals in the United States and around the world.

The Vasser Woolley Foundation was incorporated in 1961 in Georgia. The Foundation was eventually named in memory of Vasser Woolley Jr. who was born in 1896 and killed in a Paris air crash in 1962 which took the lives of 122 Atlantans. At that time, Vasser Woolley, Jr. was an active Georgia business person who had distinguished himself in the fields of textiles and real estate. 

The Foundation’s giving is primarily in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. Their fields of interest include the arts, elementary and secondary education, higher education, the performing arts, recreation, parks and playgrounds. They also have provided support for both the homeless and youth related programs. 

Currently, the Vasser Woolley Foundation supports faculty chairs, faculty, graduate students and seminars within the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech.