Dr. Charles H. Martin has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Martin received his doctoral degree from the Universityof Chicago under the supervision of Professor Karl Freed. Dr. Martin will continue research at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign under the sponsorship of Professor Klaus Schulten. His postdoctoral research will target theoretical biophysics utilizing high performance computers and quantum mechanical methods using improved semiempirical model Hamiltonians to model biological processes. His research will couple the correlated, effective valence shell Hamiltonian electronic structure method with simulation techniques and computer programming to understand the experimental absorption spectrum of retinal embedded in transmembrane protein bacteriorhodopsin and to facilitate future quantum mechanical/molecular dynamics studies of this system. The research will increase our understanding of the quantum mechanical aspects of the retinal-bacteriorhodopsin interactions and lay the foundation for dynamical simulations of retinal photoisomerization and proton pump processes. The Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Chemistry Program is viewed as an important infrastructural program designed to broaden the knowledge and experience of new Ph. D.s and attract them into meaningful careers in contemporary chemical research and teaching.
