Research Interests
The main research interests are theoretical chemical kinetics and molecular modeling. In particular I am interested in the gas phase kinetics of hydrocarbons in combustion and plasmas, in the gas phase and surface chemistry responsible for the growth of advanced materials, and in the study of biomolecular interactions. The aim of these studies is to understand qualitatively and quantitatively the kinetics and the underlying thermodynamics that is active in the investigated processes, and to exploit the knowledge so obtained in order to design new or improved processes. The approach relies on the use of quantum mechanical and molecular dynamics simulations whose results are interpreted with statistical thermodynamics. I use both literature software (e.g. quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics) as well as my own codes (e.g. master equation stochastic integration, automatic calculation of highly accurate rate constants, plasma simulations).