I am a Ph.D. Chemist with interests in chemical calculation and communication.

CV (PDF, 160kB)
Computationally, I'm interested in figuring out how to make "difficult" calculations routine.
In a sentence, the philosophy of making "difficult" calculations routine is about aiding chemical intuition through smarter methods for smarter people. This is made more challenging because of the ever-changing balance between the number of ideas, people, and computer cycles available to handle problems. In theoretical chemistry, there exist classes of molecules or properties that are routinely considered "difficult." These systems may be successfully interrogated through very artful application of high-end techniques such as quantum Monte Carlo (QMC). Successfully modeling "difficult" systems requires answers to two questions: How much "art" is required for successful application of such techniques to difficult systems? How much effort can be expended before the customer stops caring about the answer?  
How much "art" do we need? It would be an ideal outcome to develop a robust procedure for the non-expert to perform high-end calculations such as QMC with an understanding of how much accuracy will be sacrificed in exchange for a lack of ‘art’ in the calculation. Deployment of such an implementation reduces the learning curve and serves to broaden and democratize chemical calculation.
How much time do we need? Colloquially, there are three timescales to successful computation: over coffee, over lunch, and overnight. Determining which timescale to use involves understanding how to balance the quality of result, ability of the user, and access to computational resources. I teach a course that communicates this understanding to students. 
I use technology to communicate science to broader audiences, but I use my humanity first. ​
YouTube is an excellent tool for providing instructional insight for the chemistry student. It's also become part of a platform for me to showcase science in some everyday contexts that people maybe haven't considered. 
Talking to academic "strangers" is an important part of what I do. 
I am a chemist with a Liberal Arts education from Morehouse College and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. I advocate for the understanding that a properly and fully educated person is capable of drawing from the sciences and humanities. As a faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University, I've worked to draw connections between faculty in different disciplines in an effort to more fully develop the value of interdisciplinary thinking in undergraduate instruction.