Iowa State University chemistry professor elected to International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science

AMES, Iowa -- Mark Gordon, Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry at Iowa State University, has been elected a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.

Gordon was one of two new members of the Academy elected at the 41st meeting of the international organization held recently in Menton, France. Japan's Shigeki Kato was the other new member.

Members are selected for the value of their scientific work and for their roles as pioneers or leaders in the application of quantum mechanics to the study of molecules and macromolecules. Quantum mechanics is the description of physics at the scale of atoms.

Gordon was cited by the academy for his development and application of new methods in scalable electronic structure theory, particularly for correlated and multi-determinant wave functions and methods for studying environmental effects on reaction mechanisms. Gordon has developed the electronic structure code GAMES.

Gordon joined the Iowa State faculty in 1992. He also serves as the director of the applied mathematics and computational sciences division of the Ames Laboratory on the ISU campus.