Desiree Bates

Education:

• B.S. 2006, Winona State University
• Ph.D. 2010, University of Mississippi

Research Description:

As the computational chemistry leader, I teach students at a variety of levels how to employ computational approaches to aid their research, and I teach a course on basic computational chemistry for non-theoretical chemistry students.

I also work with experimental research groups that are interested in augmenting their research with computational approaches by training students or by collaborating on the computations. I help oversee our computational cluster by making software selections, identifying inefficient computing, and by maintaining a wiki website for users.

Writing grants and finding funding to increase and update our computational facility resources make up another key component of my role. My goal is to have enough computing capacity to offer a computational component in General Chemistry courses for undergraduates. In 2013, we were awarded a UW-Madison Instructional Laboratory Modernization grant to begin implementing this idea. I also have been working with instructors to integrate computational approaches into classes across all divisions — not just physical chemistry.