Acclaimed UT chemist named dean of natural sciences at Rice

National Academy of Sciences member Peter Rossky, currently a chemistry professor and director of two major research centers at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, has been named dean of Rice Universitys Wiess School of Natural Sciences.

He will join the Rice faculty Aug. 1, which will allow him to begin his deanship before the fall semester starts Aug. 25. In addition to being dean of natural sciences, Rossky will hold the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Chair as a professor of chemistry.

Peters scientific stature is evident from his election to some of the elite professional academies, said Provost George McLendon. Its a measure of Rices stature to have a scientist like Peter leading the Wiess School.

Rossky, who is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, holds the Marvin K. Collie Welch-Regents Chair in Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UT and is a professor of chemical engineering. He directs the Department of Energys Energy Frontier Research Center on Charge Separation and Transfer at Interfaces in Energy Materials at UT and the Center for Computational Molecular Sciences at UTs Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences.

I am a theoretical chemist who finds nothing more engaging than to try to understand the molecular-level processes that underlie an important experimental observation whose origin is controversial or puzzling, Rossky wrote in 2011 for his membership profile after being elected to the National Academy of Sciences one of the highest honors for a U.S. scientist.

His research focuses on the structure and dynamics of chemical transformations in condensed-phase materials, such as liquids, polymers and molecular clusters. He is particularly interested in the role of liquids as an environment for chemistry, and also in understanding the quantum world, especially tracking the evolution of energy in molecular excited states. His research group has developed algorithms that underlie the ability to study the quantum statistical and dynamic behaviors of chemicals using computer simulation.

I am excited to have the opportunity to join Rice as both a faculty member and as part of the leadership team, Rossky said. Rice is an outstanding university with a clear commitment to excellence in both research and teaching at all levels. Of great importance to me is the recurring Rice theme of no upper limit to always aspire to achieve greater things and I come to Rice sharing that vision.

Ned Thomas, dean of Rices George R. Brown School of Engineering, who chaired the search committee for the new dean, said he also is excited about Rosskys new role. Peter is very accomplished and broad in his interests, Thomas said. In addition to his deep knowledge of theoretical chemistry, Peters interests range from condensed matter physics to nanomaterials and chemical engineering. Having Peter on the Rice faculty as a leader and a researcher will be catalytic in many ways.

As dean of natural sciences, Rossky will oversee the school that comprises the departments of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Kinesiology, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy. Faculty from those departments participate in a number of interdisciplinary institutes and centers, including the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Rice Quantum Institute, the W.M. Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Bioscience Training, the Gulf Coast Consortia and the Rice Space Institute. They also engage in research collaborations with Texas Medical Center institutions, NASA, museums, industries, corporations, foundations and other universities.

Rossky said the important new areas of inquiry germinate at the intersection of the core areas of science, engineering and medicine, just as the now common areas of biophysics and nanoscience did in the past. The Wiess School has a responsibility to nurture creative new directions, as well as to bring them into the classroom, so that Rice students have the best possible window on modern science that the school can provide, he said.

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Acclaimed UT chemist named dean of natural sciences at Rice