Computational Chemist Majdi Hochlaf new honory doctor
Chemist Majdi Hochlaf will receive an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Science. Majdi Hochlaf is an internationally renowned expert in computational chemistry, connecting directly to the neighbouring field of atomic and molecular physics.
Congratulations to the Honorary doctor title, what are your feelings?
“Once I received the email from the Dean, I felt honoured, excited and extremely pleased about this.”
What is so interesting with your research field?
“I am working on identifying new processes in molecular species at the microscopic level using first principles methodologies. I always work closely with experimentalists. The interplay between theory and experiment is very beneficial for me.”
What is the topic of your research right now?
“I am treating the dynamics of exotic molecular species either isolated or in interaction with substrates and complex environments, in particular ions, in comparison to spectroscopic data. I am in particular interested in applications in the fields of atmospheric, astrophysical, biological and environmental media.”
What has been the highlights in your cooperation with the University of Gothenburg?
“I spent six months at the university holding the Guest professor chair of the Waernska Foundation. I worked closely with both Raimund Feifel at the Department of Physics and Gunnar Nyman at the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology and their doctoral students and post docs. Upon returning to my home university we continued working together.
We focused on state-to-state unimolecular decomposition processes of multiply-charged molecular ions, in particular the formation of abiotic O2 upon double ionization of SO2.”
Anything else you might want to mention?
“During my stay at the University of Gothenburg, I also gave lectures on molecular spectroscopies and theoretical chemistry to PhD students and Post docs. I really appreciated the interest of the students to these scientific domains and that we continued interacting together on these topics since then”, says Majdi Hochlaf.
The promotion ceremony takes place on October 25, 2024.