Faculty: 32
Current UG & G Majors: 125
Research Grants: $7 million/yr
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Krzysztof Szalewicz


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Teaching

UD » Physics & Astronomy » Faculty » Krzysztof Szalewicz

Krzysztof Szalewicz

Our group is mostly interested in the phenomenon of intermolecular interactions. It is remarkable how broad a range of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena originates from such interactions (also called van der Waals interactions), i.e., the interactions that do not involve forming a chemical bond between the interacting species. We have developed perturbative methods describing intermolecular interactions, the so-called symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT). These methods solve the quantum mechanical Schroedinger equation using a sequence of gradually improving approximations. Practical calculations are now possible for large molecules (containing up to about thirty atoms). The SAPT computer code written by our group is currently used by nearly 400 research groups worldwide.

Another area of interest are ultra-accurate calculations for small molecules. The simplest description of an atom or molecule ignores correlations between the electrons. To describe electron correlation effects, one uses many-body perturbation theory and coupled cluster methods. Most implementations of these methods expand wave functions into products of orbitals, which severely limits accuracy of predictions. To overcome this problem, we use explicitly-correlated functions, i.e., functions depending on interelectronic distances in the coupled cluster expansions of the molecular wave functions. For small molecules, this method produces benchmark correlation energies that serve as accuracy standards for other theoretical methods and provide the best possible agreement with experiment.

EDUCATION

1984D.Sc., University of Warsaw
1977Ph.D., University of Warsaw
1973M.S., University of Warsaw

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1994-Professor
Dept. Physics & Astronomy, Univ. of Delaware
1993-Joint Appointment
Dept. Chemistry & Biochemistry, Univ. of Delaware
1990-1994Assoc. Professor
Dept. Physics & Astronomy, Univ. of Delaware
1988-1990Assist. Professor
Dept. Physics & Astronomy, Univ. of Delaware
1985-1987Assoc. Research Scientist
Quantum Theory Project, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Florida
1978-1984Assist. Professor
Department of Chemistry, Univ. of Warsaw

VISITING POSITIONS

1996ITAMP Visitor
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
1995JILA Fellow
Joint Inst. for Astrophysics, University of Colorado
1990-1992Visiting Scientist
Dept of Quantum Chemistry, Univ. of Uppsala, Sweden
1982-1984Visiting Scientist
Inst. of Theoretical Physics, Univ. of Cologne, Germany
1980-1982Adjunct Research Assistant Professor
Quantum Theory Project, Depts. of Physics and Chemistry
Univ. of Florida

HONORS AND AWARDS

2010 Elected as a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science
2004 UD College of Arts & Science Outstanding Scholar Award
2000-Fellow of American Physical Society
1977-1984Awards of the President of University of Warsaw (4 times)
1979Award of the Minister of Higher Education of Poland
for Achievements in Science Research
1971-1973Scientific Scholarship, University of Warsaw
Contact Information

KRZYSZTOF SZALEWICZ
University of Delaware
Physics & Astronomy
121 Sharp Laboratory
Newark, DE 19716


szalewic@udel.edu
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office: 302-831-6579
fax: 302-831-1637

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