Prof. Dr. Peter Hess is professor (emeritus) of Physical Chemistry at University of Heidelberg since 1980. Previously, he studied for a diploma in chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and for a PhD thesis (1968) and for the habilitation thesis (1972) at Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg. From 1974 he was research fellow at the Department of Chemistry, University of California (Berkeley, USA). His main research fields were laser-based photoacoustics and ultrasonics, with emphasis on surface acoustic waves. Nowadays, the chemical and physical properties of 2D materials, especially two-dimensional chemical bonding, the resulting structures, and the mechanical performance of monolayers down the periodic table, are the topic of interest.

Dr. Eugene S. Mananga is the Director of Grants and STEM Program, a member in the Executive Board and Board of Directors-at-Large of The CUNY ACADEMY FOR HUMANITIES AND SCIENCES. He is a Doctoral Faculty in the Ph.D. Programs in Physics & in Chemistry at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He is an Adjunct Professor of Applied Physics at New York University (NYU), and an Assistant Professor of Physics and Nuclear Medicine at BCC of CUNY. In 2019, Professor Mananga was selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE, Office of Science) in the Faculty Program (VFP) at Argonne National Laboratory. He completed his Ph. D in Physics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and holds 6 additional graduate degrees and training from various institutions including Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and City College of New York. Eugene did his postdoctoral studies in the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory of USA, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to joining Harvard - MGH, Dr. Mananga was an “Ingenieur de Recherche” in the French Atomic Energy Commission and Alternative Energies (“Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique de France”, CEA-SACLAY, NEUROSPIN). During his tenure with CEA-SACLAY, Dr. Mananga worked in collaboration with Dr. Thibault Charpentier to introduce the Floquet-Magnus expansion in the field of Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. This important work contributes to advance the understanding of spin dynamics in nuclear magnetic resonance, quantum physics, and beyond. Eugene has published more than 60 peer-review scientific articles (mainly as first and corresponding author) including prestigious and major scientific journals such as Physics Reports, Royal Society of Chemistry, the Journal of Chemical Physics, PLOS ONE, the Journal of Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics, Chemical Physics Letters, Journal of Magnetic Resonance, Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Journal of Nature and Science, etc... and has been serving as editorial board member for more than 40 international scientific journals. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal of Molecular Physics, the journal of Drug Design Development Delivery, and recently, he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Imaging Science and also served the most prestigious position of "Chief Editor" for the editorial board of ”The Scientific Journal of Molecular Physics”. Dr. Mananga has been an honorable Scientific Adviser and Organizing Committee Member for several major international scientific conferences in the USA and around the world. On April 2018, he was selected as one of the 2018 STEM Faculty Leaders in the USA to participate in the 2018 PKAL STEM LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE II. His scientific contribution in the field of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance was honored during the 70th anniversary (1946 - 2016) of the Russian Academic of Sciences. Dr. Mananga is the Laureate of 2017 Henry Wasser Award in Physics from the CUNY Academy of Humanities and Sciences in recognition of “Outstanding Scholarship and Academic Performance”. His potential for leadership in SCIENCE is evidenced by his recent recognition as the recipient of the 2018 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Chemical Society (New York & Westchester Section) for “Contributions and Advanced Studies in the Theory of Spin Dynamics in Solid-State Nuclear magnetic Resonance and Quantum Mechanics”. From 2018 to 2023, Professor Mananga serves as a Faculty Mentor in physics on the National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM scholarship $5 million scholarship grant on “Developing a Growth Mindset Model to Build Resiliency in Underrepresented STEM Students”.

Cummins group research embraces chemical synthesis, reaction discovery, reagent development, and mechanistic studies. Under development are anthracene-based precursors to reactive intermediates including P2, aminophosphinidenes, SO, phosphinidene chalcogenides, and other heavier main-group multiply bonded species not stabilized by sterically demanding substituents. Group transfer reactivity is advancing in a parallel fashion. Ligands are being elaborated from P2 cycloaddition chemistry for catalysis applications. A building block approach to poly and oligophosphate containing compounds is gaining traction with reagents for tri and tetraphosphorylation of assorted nucleophiles. Transition-metal mediated processes for phosphinidene transfer to olefins are under elucidation towards development of a phosphiranation method, the phosphorus counterpart to epoxidation or aziridination. Synthetic sorties are complemented by quantum chemical investigations to illuminate potential energy surfaces and to reveal nuances of chemical bonding for novel systems. Phosphorus sustainability efforts are geared to uncovering energy efficient and waste minimal routes to value added P-chemicals starting from recovered and recycled materials.

Russell J. Hemley holds the position of Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences and Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, all in chemistry. Previously, he worked at the Carnegie Institution and has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Cornell University, and George Washington University. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, HonorisCausa Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and is a recipient of the Balzan Prize and Percy W. Bridgman Award, among other honors. He has authored approximately 650 scientific publications.

My laboratory investigates the structure and function of biological systems with a strong physical perspective. We invent experimental methods and develop theory as needed. We are pursuing several interconnected themes: Excited State Dynamics in GFP & Split GFP Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) is widely used as a probe to localize proteins in cells. Our lab was the first to demonstrate that the GFP chromophore exists in two protonation states, interconvertible by ultrafast excited state proton transfer. We and others have since developed this idea to generate novel GFP variants with diverse colors and sensitivities. Current work focuses on split GFP in which structural elements such as entire beta strands are replaced with synthetic ones. We have discovered that some split GFPs can be photodissociated, generating a peptide and a truncated protein; alternatively, in some conditions, light can be used to associate peptides with truncated proteins. Thus these split GFPs are optogenetic elements for manipulations inside cells, and we seek to understand how they work. Electrostatics and Dynamics in Proteins We study electrostatics in proteins and how electric fields affect function. Early test systems used mutants of myoglobin, which was first cloned and expressed in our lab. This led to probes whose sensitivity to electric fields can be calibrated by Stark spectroscopy — spectroscopy in electric fields — which we have developed into a broadly applicable method. Vibrational Stark experiments exploit molecular vibrations as local and directional probes to map electrostatic fields in proteins. Current work applies nitrile probes introduced into proteins on inhibitors. These can be used to probe electrostatics and hydration at the active sites of important drug targets. Recent work focuses on carbonyl probes to study enzymatic reactions. By combining the vibrational Stark effect, vibrational solvatochromism and MD simulations, we have developed a general method to measure the absolute field sensed by the carbonyl probe in proteins. This has been used to quantify the electrostatic contribution to the catalytic rate in several enzymes.

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Research Fellow (2013-)；Associate Research Fellow (2007-2013)；Assistant Research Fellow (2002~2007)；B.S., National Taiwan University (1990)；M.S., National Taiwan University (1992)；Ph.D., California Institute of Technology (1997)；Miller Research Fellow, University of California at Berkeley (1998~2001)；Heritage Prize from the Li Foundation (2002)；Wu Ta-You Memorial Award National Science Council (2008)；Junior Researcher Award, Academia Sinica (2009)；Pople Medal, Asia-Pacific Association of Theoretical & Computational Chemists (2010)；Outstanding Young Scholar Award from Shui-Mu Foundation of Chemistry (2011)；Outstanding Research Award from the National Science Council(2011) ；

Education MSc in chemistry, granted by the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, former Pedagogical University, Katowice, Poland, 1968 PhD in chemistry, granted by the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, The University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, 1972 DSc in chemistry, granted by the former Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, The Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, 1988 Professorial title through the Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, 1999 Full professor from 2000 Administrative positions 1981-1984 vice-head, Institute of Chemistry, The University of Silesia 2004-2006 head, Department of Physicochemical Foundations of Chromatography, Institute of Chemistry, The University of Silesia since 2006 head, Department of General Chemistry and Chromatography, Institute of Chemistry, The University of Silesia Fellowships and grants 1974-75 The one-year British Council post-doctoral fellowship held at the Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, The University of Salford, Salford, Lancs., UK; supervisor late Prof. Hans Suschitzky 2010 The one-month mobility grant for senior scientists within the framework of the ‘University as a Partner of the Economy Based on Science’ (UPGOW) project, subsidized by the European Social Fund (EFS) of the European Union, held at the Department of Chemistry, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, U.S.A. (head of the Department: Prof. Irving R. Epstein) 2015 The one-month mobility grant for senior scientists subsidized by the EU and held at the Faculty of Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia (the group leader: Prof. Ljiljana Kolar-Anić) Teaching responsibilities • Lectures in General Chemistry held to undergraduate chemistry students • Lectures and seminars on physico-chemical aspects of separation science (chromatography) held to MSc and PhD students Supervisor of MSc theses: over 100 Supervisor of PhD theses: 14 Reviewer for 49 PhD theses at home and abroad (UK, Belgium, India, and Pakistan) Reviewer for 4 habilitations (DSc procedures) and for 3 applications to the professorial title Co-organized (from 1976) and then organized (from 2001) the all-Polish Scientific Symposia on “Chromatographic Methods of Investigating the Organic Compounds” with international participation (40 symposia altogether)