Nancy Makri (born September 5, 1962)[2] is the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Endowed Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign,[3] where she is the principal investigator of the Makri Research Group for the theoretical understanding of condensed phase quantum dynamics.[4] She studies theoretical quantum dynamics of polyatomic systems,[1] and has developed methods for long-time numerical path integral simulations of quantum dissipative systems.[2]
Nancy Makri | |
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Born | |
Alma mater | University of Athens, University of California at Berkeley |
Spouse | Martin Gruebele |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Chemical physics, Theoretical chemistry[1] |
Institutions | Harvard, University of Illinois |
Nancy Makri was born in Athens, Greece on September 5, 1962.[5] She graduated from the University of Athens in 1985[2][1] with a B.S. in Chemistry, after working with Professor Cleanthes A. Nicolaides.[5] She then attended the University of California at Berkeley and received her Ph.D. in 1989[2] under the direction of William H. Miller. Her thesis title was Theoretical methods for the study of chemical dynamics.[6] In 1992 she married physical chemist Martin Gruebele.[2][7]
Makri spent two years as a Junior Fellow at Harvard University, from 1989-1991.[1] She joined the Chemistry faculty of the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign in 1992. In 1996 she became Associate Professor with tenure, and in 1999, Professor of Chemistry and Physics.[7] She directs a research group there focused on the theoretical understanding of condensed phase quantum dynamics[4] and has co-authored over 100 scientific articles.[8] She is also an affiliate of the Beckman Institute for Science and Technology.[9]
Makri works in the area of theoretical chemical physics. She has developed new theoretical approaches to simulating the dynamics of quantum mechanical phenomena.[7] Makri has developed novel methods for calculating numerically exact path integrals for the simulation of system dynamics in harmonic dissipative environments.[8] Her simulation algorithms address the limitations of the Schrödinger equation, which can only describe physical changes exactly in the quantum state of small molecules.[10][11] By identifying aspects of simulations which can be effectively simplified, Makri's group developed "the first fully quantum mechanical methodology for calculating the evolution of a quantum system in a dissipative environment by performing an iterative decomposition of Feynman’s path integral expression".[12] Such simplifications make it possible to calculate outcomes that otherwise would not be mathematically feasible.[11] Her careful examinations of the system-harmonic bath model have resulted in techniques for avoiding the Monte Carlo sign problem.[13][8]
The ability to model proton and electron transfer reactions has been successfully applied to biological systems such as the quantum simulation of electron transfer in bacterial photosynthesis,[14][15] offering "a complete and unambiguous picture of the process".[16][11] More recent work has focused on developing a methodology for forward-backward semiclassical dynamics using classical trajectory calculations. This approach has been used to model the activity of helium in both normal and superfluid phases, examining Bose-statistical effects in relationship to phase transitions.[12][17][8]
Makri has received a number of awards and honors, including the following:[3][7][5]