Dr. Xiaosong Li

Larry R. Dalton Endowed Chair in Chemistry

Senior Associate Dean for Research, College of Arts & Sciences

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Presents:

“Watching Electrons Dance: From Time-Dependent Quantum Theory to Spectroscopy”

Thursday, April 9th at 7:00 PM

Abbott Hall Room 101

Bio:      Dr. Xiaosong Li is the Larry R. Dalton Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Senior Associate Dean for Research in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Wayne State University in 2003, followed by postdoctoral research at Yale University before joining the University of Washington in 2005. In addition to his faculty appointments in the Departments of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering, he is a Lab Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

An internationally recognized leader in time-dependent quantum theory and relativistic electronic structure methods, Dr. Li's research spans physics, chemistry, materials science, mathematics, and computer science. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications and developed widely used computational software.

Dr. Li's contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including a Sloan Research Fellowship, the NSF CAREER Award, the ACS Jack Simons Award in Theoretical Physical Chemistry, and the University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Physical Society (APS), and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and an elected member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences.

Abstract: Many important chemical and physical processes happen on extremely short timescales. These ultrafast electron motions play a central role in technologies such as solar energy conversion, photocatalysis, radiation chemistry, and advanced spectroscopy. To understand and eventually control these processes, scientists must be able to describe how electrons move and interact with one another, with atomic nuclei, and with external influences such as light, magnetic fields, and radiation.

Research in the Li group aims to develop new theoretical models and computer simulations that make it possible to study these rapid, complex electronic motions in realistic chemical systems. These methods are designed to work across a wide range of conditions, from everyday chemical environments to extreme regimes where relativistic effects become important.

In this talk, I will highlight recent progress in our group’s development of time-dependent electronic structure theories and advanced simulation tools. I will also present applications of these methods to important chemical phenomena, including how molecules absorb X-rays, how protons move after electronic excitation, and how materials respond to magnetic and optical fields. Together, these advances help deepen our understanding of ultrafast chemistry and support the design of next-generation energy and spectroscopy technologies.