Johnson is from Ottawa, Canada. She completed her B.Sc. Hons. in Integrated Science (chemistry/mathematics) at Carleton University in 2004. She earned her PhD at Queen's University in 2007, working with Axel D. Becke. In 2006, they demonstrated a simple potential for exchange energies; the Becke–Johnson potential.[1] She developed the exchange-hole dipole moment dispersion model (XDM), which describes intermolecular interactions.[2][3][4][5][6][7] The model is a density functional model based on second-order perturbation theory, and uses the interaction of induced dipoles to model dispersion.[2][8][9] Her PhD focussed on improving the accuracy and efficiency of computational chemistry.[10] She was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council postdoctoral fellow at Duke University with Yang Weitao from 2007 to 2010.[11][12] They developed fractional spin density functional theory to describe open-shell singlet diradicals.[13] She looked at the energy splitting between spin-states, connecting them to the ionisation potential and electron affinity.[14]
A major contribution of her postdoctoral research was the development of the non-covalent interaction index.[15] This index describes the non-covalent interactions in a range of chemical applications, and is fast to compute, making it able to handle large systems.[16] The non-covalent interaction index can be plotted in real space, which allows the inter- and intra-molecular interactions present in the system to be visualised.[17]
Independent academic career
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Johnson joined the faculty of the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California, Merced as an assistant professor in 2010. In February 2015, she relocated to the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University as the Herzberg–Becke Chair in Theoretical Chemistry.[18][19] She was promoted to Full Professor at Dalhousie in 2018.
Research
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In her independent career, Johnson has continued to develop and apply methods for London dispersion interactions using density functional theory. These applications include molecular crystals, organometallic complexes, and layered solids.[20]
Johnson has applied her dispersion-corrected density functional theory methods to crystal structure prediction. Her group successfully predicted the most stable polymorph of a variety of molecular crystals using dispersion-corrected density functional theory.[21] She has worked on charge-transfer complexes and how charge is transferred between electron donors (such as NH3, C2H4) and electron acceptors (F2, Cl2).[22] She studied 2D electrides, alkalides and transition-metal diatomics.[23][24] In 2017, she collaborated with Kim Jelfs to predict the relative stabilities of polymorphs of aza-6-helicene from first principles.[25]
Published work
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As of 2023, she has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, which have been cited more than 24,000 times.[26] She published the book Density Functionals with Springer in 2015.[27]
^Becke, Axel D.; Johnson, Erin R. (2006-06-14). "A simple effective potential for exchange". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 124 (22): 221101. Bibcode:2006JChPh.124v1101B. doi:10.1063/1.2213970. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 16784253.
^ abJohnson, Erin R. (2017-01-01). "The Exchange-Hole Dipole Moment Dispersion Model". pp. 169–194. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-809835-6.00006-2. ISBN 9780128098356. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
^Johnson, Erin R.; Becke, Axel D. (2005-07-08). "A post-Hartree–Fock model of intermolecular interactions". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 123 (2): 024101. Bibcode:2005JChPh.123b4101J. doi:10.1063/1.1949201. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 16050735.
^Becke, Axel D.; Johnson, Erin R. (2005-04-15). "Exchange-hole dipole moment and the dispersion interaction". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 122 (15): 154104. Bibcode:2005JChPh.122o4104B. doi:10.1063/1.1884601. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 15945622.
^Becke, Axel D.; Johnson, Erin R. (2006-01-07). "Exchange-hole dipole moment and the dispersion interaction: High-order dispersion coefficients". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 124 (1): 014104. Bibcode:2006JChPh.124a4104B. doi:10.1063/1.2139668. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 16409021.
^Johnson, Erin R.; Becke, Axel D. (2006-05-07). "A post-Hartree-Fock model of intermolecular interactions: Inclusion of higher-order corrections". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 124 (17): 174104. Bibcode:2006JChPh.124q4104J. doi:10.1063/1.2190220. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 16689564.
^Becke, Axel D.; Johnson, Erin R. (2007-10-21). "Exchange-hole dipole moment and the dispersion interaction revisited". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 127 (15): 154108. Bibcode:2007JChPh.127o4108B. doi:10.1063/1.2795701. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 17949133.
^"XDM - Johnson Group Wiki". schooner.chem.dal.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^Becke, Axel D.; Johnson, Erin R. (2007-09-28). "A unified density-functional treatment of dynamical, nondynamical, and dispersion correlations". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 127 (12): 124108. Bibcode:2007JChPh.127l4108B. doi:10.1063/1.2768530. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 17902894.
^ abDivision, Government of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Communications (2016-06-28). "NSERC - André Hamer - Past Winner - Erin R. Johnson". www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"User:ERJohnson - Johnson Group Wiki". schooner.chem.dal.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^"NSF Award Search: Award#0911119 - Development and Applications of Density Functional Methods for Large Systems". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^Ess, Daniel H.; Johnson, Erin R.; Hu, Xiangqian; Yang, Weitao (2011-01-13). "Singlet−Triplet Energy Gaps for Diradicals from Fractional-Spin Density-Functional Theory". The Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 115 (1): 76–83. Bibcode:2011JPCA..115...76E. doi:10.1021/jp109280y. ISSN 1089-5639. PMID 21141988.
^Johnson, Erin R.; Yang, Weitao; Davidson, Ernest R. (2010-10-28). "Spin-state splittings, highest-occupied-molecular-orbital and lowest-unoccupied-molecular-orbital energies, and chemical hardness" (PDF). The Journal of Chemical Physics. 133 (16): 164107. Bibcode:2010JChPh.133p4107J. doi:10.1063/1.3497190. hdl:10161/3345. ISSN 1089-7690. PMID 21033775.
^Johnson, Erin R.; Keinan, Shahar; Mori-Sánchez, Paula; Contreras-García, Julia; Cohen, Aron J.; Yang, Weitao (2010-05-12). "Revealing Noncovalent Interactions". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 132 (18): 6498–6506. doi:10.1021/ja100936w. ISSN 0002-7863. PMC2864795. PMID 20394428.
^Contreras-García, Julia; Johnson, Erin R.; Keinan, Shahar; Chaudret, Robin; Piquemal, Jean-Philip; Beratan, David N.; Yang, Weitao (2011-03-08). "NCIPLOT: a program for plotting non-covalent interaction regions". Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. 7 (3): 625–632. doi:10.1021/ct100641a. ISSN 1549-9618. PMC3080048. PMID 21516178.
^"Nciplot - Johnson Group Wiki". schooner.chem.dal.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^Cnr (2015-02-01). "Canadian Chemistry Faculty Positions: Case Closed: Erin Johnson Hired by Dalhousie University". Canadian Chemistry Faculty Positions. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^"Dalhousie chemist awarded top Canadian science prize". Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^"Erin R. Johnson". faculty1.ucmerced.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^LeBlanc, Luc M.; Dale, Stephen G.; Taylor, Christopher R.; Becke, Axel D.; Day, Graeme M.; Johnson, Erin R. (2018-10-09). "Pervasive Delocalisation Error Causes Spurious Proton Transfer in Organic Acid-Base Co-Crystals" (PDF). Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 57 (45): 14906–14910. doi:10.1002/anie.201809381. ISSN 1433-7851. PMID 30248221. S2CID 205407868.
^Becke, Axel D.; Dale, Stephen G.; Johnson, Erin R. (2018-06-07). "Communication: Correct charge transfer in CT complexes from the Becke'05 density functional". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 148 (21): 211101. Bibcode:2018JChPh.148u1101B. doi:10.1063/1.5039742. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 29884028.
^Dale, Stephen G.; Johnson, Erin R. (2017). "The ionic versus metallic nature of 2D electrides: a density-functional description". Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 19 (40): 27343–27352. Bibcode:2017PCCP...1927343D. doi:10.1039/C7CP04825D. ISSN 1463-9076. PMID 28971195.
^Johnson, Erin R.; Becke, Axel D. (2017-06-07). "Communication: DFT treatment of strong correlation in 3d transition-metal diatomics". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 146 (21): 211105. Bibcode:2017JChPh.146u1105J. doi:10.1063/1.4985084. ISSN 0021-9606. PMID 28595421.
^Yang, Ying; Rice, Beth; Shi, Xingyuan; Brandt, Jochen R.; Correa da Costa, Rosenildo; Hedley, Gordon J.; Smilgies, Detlef-M.; Frost, Jarvist M.; Samuel, Ifor. D. W. (2017-07-19). "Emergent Properties of an Organic Semiconductor Driven by its Molecular Chirality". ACS Nano. 11 (8): 8329–8338. doi:10.1021/acsnano.7b03540. hdl:10023/11625. ISSN 1936-0851. PMID 28696680.
^https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=57ER3oQAAAAJ&hl=en%7CErin R Johnson - Google Scholar
^Density Functionals - Thermochemistry | Erin R. Johnson | Springer. Topics in Current Chemistry. Springer. 2015. ISBN 9783319196916.
^"At the centre of the world: Dal chemist celebrated for building the fundamental science of her discipline". www.dal.ca. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
^"The RSC Presents the 2020 Medal and Award Winners | The Royal Society of Canada". rsc-src.ca. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
^"E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship". www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-09.