Valeria_Molinero

Valeria Molinero

Valeria Molinero

Argentinian physicist and academic


Valeria Paula Molinero is an Argentinian physicist who is the Jack and Peg Simons Endowed Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Utah.[1][2] Her research investigates the simulation of the behavior of materials. She was awarded the American Physical Society Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics in 2023.

Early life and education

Molinero was born in Argentina.[3][4] She earned her undergraduate and doctorate degrees and was a doctoral researcher at the University of Buenos Aires, where she specialized in electrochemistry.[5]

Research and career

After her PhD, Molinero moved to the California Institute of Technology and Arizona State University for postdoctoral research, working alongside Austen Angell and William Andrew Goddard III.[5]

In 2006, Molinero joined the University of Utah, where she built a research program focused on the use of computer simulations to understand the structure and phase dynamics of materials.[6] Her research has mainly investigated the transition between water and ice, and how the environment in which that transition occurs (e.g. in the production of ice cream, in clouds, in anti-freeze) influences the process.[7]

Molinero has developed simulations to understand the materials properties of zeolites, and to predict the specific polymorph from a synthesis mixture.[8] In 2020, she investigated the smallest limits of ice, showing that in nanodroplets of fewer than 90 molecules of water it is impossible for ice to form.[9][10]

Awards and honors

Selected publications

As of 2023 according to Google scholar[1] her most cited publications are:

  • Valeria Molinero; Emily B Moore (1 April 2009). "Water modeled as an intermediate element between carbon and silicon". The Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 113 (13): 4008–4016. arXiv:0809.2811. doi:10.1021/JP805227C. ISSN 1520-6106. PMID 18956896. Wikidata Q46289790.
  • Emily B Moore; Valeria Molinero (23 November 2011). "Structural transformation in supercooled water controls the crystallization rate of ice". Nature. 479 (7374): 506–508. arXiv:1107.1622. doi:10.1038/NATURE10586. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 22113691. Wikidata Q34235591.
  • Liam C Jacobson; Waldemar Hujo; Valeria Molinero (1 August 2010). "Amorphous precursors in the nucleation of clathrate hydrates". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 132 (33): 11806–11811. doi:10.1021/JA1051445. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 20669949. Wikidata Q54278459.

References

  1. Valeria Molinero publications indexed by Google Scholar Edit this at Wikidata
  2. Viudes, Hernán (2022-05-22). "Valeria Molinero, una argentina en la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de EE.UU". Agenda Sur (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  3. "Valeria en el cielo con cristales". nexciencia.exactas.uba.ar (in Spanish). 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  4. "Prize Recipient". aps.org. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  5. "Valeria Molinero | Princeton University Department of Chemistry". chemistry.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  6. "Scientists probe the limits of ice | UNews". unews.utah.edu. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  7. "IAPWS Helmholtz Award". iapws.org. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  8. "Valeria Molinero". beckman-foundation.org. Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  9. "Valeria Molinero". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  10. "Doble honoris". Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (in Spanish). 2022-12-27. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  11. "New Prize and Award Recipients". aps.org. Retrieved 2023-02-11.

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