David Sherrill

Biography

Education: B.S. Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1992; Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Georgia, 1996. Awards: Outreach Volunteer of the Year, Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society, 2017; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2014; Fellow of the American Chemical Society, 2011; Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2010;  Vasser Woolley Faculty Fellow, 2008-2010; Distinguished Service Award, Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society, 2008; Class of 1940 W. Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher Award, 2006; National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2001; Wiley-International Journal of Quantum Chemistry Young Investigator Award, 2001

Research Interest

 Research in the Sherrill group focuses on the development of ab initio electronic structure theory and its application to problems of broad chemical interest, including the influence of non-covalent interactions in drug binding, biomolecular structure, organic crystals, and organocatalytic transition states.   We seek to apply the most accurate quantum models possible for a given problem, and we specialize in performing systematic studies to thoroughly evaluate the quality of new quantum chemical methods.  We are developing improved algorithms for quantum chemistry based on density fitting and other rank-reduction techniques.  We have developed highly efficient software to perform symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) computations of intermolecular interactions, and we have used this software to analyze the nature of non-covalent pi-interactions in terms of electrostatics, London dispersion forces, induction/polarization, and short range exchange-repulsion.  This work is part of a larger project to provide next-generation open-source quantum chemistry software to the computational chemistry community via our Psi4 program