Edward Valeev Elected to International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science

Edward Valeev, Professor of Chemistry in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, has been elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences (IAQMS).

Valeev joins colleague and University Distinguished Professor T. Daniel Crawford as members of the academy. With Valeev's election, Virginia Tech joins 13 other universities nationwide with multiple current members. This places Virginia Tech Chemistry among the top computational/theoretical programs with the likes of  UC Berkeley, Harvard, and Caltech.

New members are selected among scientists from across the globe who have distinguished themselves through the value of their scientific work and their role as a leader in using quantum mechanics to study molecules and materials.

"I am humbled to be elected into the Academy whose members include many who served as models and inspiration to me since the earliest days as a scientist," said Valeev.

Established in 1967, the Academy counts more than 130 elected members from all continents, including 14 Nobel laureates among the current and past members. The Academy advocates quantum-molecular science around the world and promotes gender equality and geographical diversity. The Academy annually awards a medal to a young member of the scientific community for significant research contributions in the area of theoretical and computational chemistry.

Valeev's research is at the intersection of chemistry, physics, applied mathematics, and computer science. His group develops practical numerical models of correlated quantum states of electrons that can be systematically improved toward the exact description. Such models are then realized in open-source, free, and commercial software to be usable by other computational researchers and experimentalists alike, such as  Orca, CP2K, Psi4, and others. Making such models practically usable involves not only clever mathematics but also advanced computational science to help exploit modern massively parallel computers.