Larry A. Viehland of Chatham College is supported by the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program via an RUI award to continue research on transport properties of ions moving in trace amounts through dilute gases. Method developments include a new scheme for calculating transport coefficients that will allow testing of ab initio potential energy surfaces. Work is also underway to solve the kinetic equation for vibrating ions in gases as input for calculations of transport cross sections. Applications of these methods include ion velocities and temperatures in ion traps. Collaborations are underway with researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and universities in Russian and the United Kingdom. This work is having a broader impact by providing a fundamental understanding of ion transport with potential applications in planetary and combustion chemistry as well as mass spectrometry. Additional impacts result from involving female undergraduates and underrepresented minorities in publishable research. Chatham College remains one of the few women''s colleges in the United States.
