THIRD AWARD RECIPIENT - JAMES L. SKINNER
James L. Skinner, Joseph O. and Elizabeth S. Hirschfelder Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, was honored as the 2011 winner of the ACS Physical Chemistry Division Award in Theoretical Chemistry. The award will be presented to Professor Skinner at the 2011 Telluride School in Theoretical Chemistry in Telluride, CO, July 10-15.
Skinner is the third recipient of the ACS Physical Chemistry Division Award in Theoretical Chemistry. He is Director of the Theoretical Chemistry Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Physics, and will be Chair of the American Conference of Theoretical Chemistry in 2014.
Dr. Skinner graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1975, where he was a double major in physics and chemistry, with Highest Honors in each major. He entered Harvard University the next fall, where he studied with Professor Peter Wolynes, receiving his Ph.D. in chemical physics in 1979. While at Harvard he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow (1975-78). He did his postdoctoral work at Stanford under the direction of Hans Andersen, and was funded by a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (1980-81). In 1981 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University, and became Professor of Chemistry in 1986. In 1990 Skinner moved to the University of Wisconsin. He served as Department Chair during 2004-07.
Skinner has been the recipient of a number of awards for both scholarship and teaching. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (1997), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2003), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006). He has given a number of named lectures, has served on the editorial boards of the major journals in physical chemistry, and has served as Chair of the Physical Division of the ACS (2004) and its Theoretical Subdivision (1996). He has coauthored over 170 scientific publications, has given over 275 invited lectures, many at international conferences, and has served as advisor to 30 graduate students and 12 postdocs.
Skinner's research interests include: theoretical chemistry of condensed phases; non-equilibrium statistical mechanics; chemical reaction dynamics; exciton and electron transport; dephasing and relaxation processes; linear and non-linear spectroscopy. Most recently he has been studying the structure, spectroscopy, and dynamics of bulk, interfacial, confined, and biological water, and of proteins.
