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Research Interests
We are interested in electronically nonadiabatic processes, processes in which the Born-Oppenheimer approximation fails and a molecular wave function can transition radiationlessly between potential energy surfaces. Although the Born-Oppenheimer approximation is fundamental to the way we think about and quantify virtually all of chemistry, its breakdown, rather than a rare event is quite common, when electronically excited state are involved. Since electronically excited states are routinely formed when visible and higher energy photons are absorbed, nonadiabatic processes are of fundamental importance in such diverse areas as vision, photosynthesis, solar energy conversion, photochemistry and the stability of biomolecules.