Robert W. Ashcraft

Mailing Address:  77 Massachusetts Avenue Room 66-264 Cambridge, MA 02139 Office phone: (617) 253-6554 E-mail: rwashcra AT mit DOT edu

I completed my undergraduate work in chemical engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.  I was involved in research dealing with thin-film chemical vapor deposition as an undergraduate.  This research sought to find new materials for use in thin-film dielectrics used to produce small and fast electronic components (transistors and capacitors) for computer processors and memory.  I was also heavily involved in the AIChE student chapter at NCSU. 

From there I moved on to MIT and found myself in the wonderful Green group as a Ph.D. student trying to understand the detailed workings of complex chemical systems.  My current research involves the application of state of the art computational chemistry tools to condensed phase systems, for which they not originally developed.  The major hurdle is trying to understand and estimated the effect of neglected terms that are negligible in the gas phase, but are extremely important in condensed phase systems.  More information can be found under the “Projects” menu on the Green group web page.

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