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:

“Relativistic Effects in Chemistry”

Friday, April 10th at 12:20 PM

Abbott Hall Room 138

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: The field of computational chemical science faces a growing demand for accurate electronic structure methods that extend beyond the traditional framework of the Schrödinger equation. This need is driven by molecular and material systems with complex electronic structures and photophysical properties that defy prediction by simple periodic trends. Recent advances in relativistic electronic structure theory have provided unprecedented accuracy in describing energetic ordering, chemical reactivity, and spectroscopic features, particularly for complexes containing late-row transition metals, rare earth, and heavy elements. This presentation offers a pedagogical overview of the evolution and current state of relativistic electronic structure theory, illustrated with practical examples such as intersystem crossing dynamics, chiral-induced spin selectivity, and M-edge spectra of heavy-element complexes.