• Chemical Physics: dynamics and electronic structure
• Chemical Theory & Computation: dynamics and electronic structure
• Environmental & Green Chemistry: environmental computational chemistry
• Nanoscience & Materials Chemistry: computational studies
• Energy & Catalysis
• Chemical Biology

Research Summary

Research interests include:

• theoretical and computational chemistry, simulation and modeling:
  • algorithms, methods
  • quantum photochemistry
  • reaction rates
  • solvation
  • nanoparticles
  • Earth and planetary sciences
  • environmental chemistry
  • biochemistry, drug design, neurochemistry
  • combustion chemistry
  • catalysis
  • quantum effects, tunneling, path integrals, transition state theory
  • potential energy surfaces
  • density functional theory

Research Page

Education

• B.S. St. Mary's College, 1965
• Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1970

Recent News

• Regents Professor Donald Truhlar awarded Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry
• Professor Truhlar Eclipses the 200,000 Citations Mark

Honors and Awards

• Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education, 2020
• American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry, 2019
• Honorary Fellow Council of the Chemical Research Society of India, 2019
• American Physical Society Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics, 2016
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2015
• Council of Graduate Students Outstanding Advising and Mentoring Award, 2015-2016
• Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society, 2015
• Council of Graduate Students Outstanding Faculty Award, 2015
• American Physical Society Outstanding Referee of the Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, 2015
• Computational Chemical Dynamics: A Symposium in Honor of Donald Truhlar, American Chemical Society, 2015
• Outstanding Referee of the Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, 2014
• Outstanding Adviser Award of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, 2013
• International Symposium on Organic Reaction Mechanism: A Celebration in Honor of Bob Grubbs, Ken Houk, Paul Schleyer and Don Truhlar, Shenzhen, China, 2013
• Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Dynamics Award, 2012
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, St. Mary’s University of Minnnesota, 2011
• Doctor honoris causa of Technical University of Lodz, Poland, 2010
• Elected to Fellowship in the American Chemical Society, 2009
• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2009
• Named a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FSRC), 2009
• Dudley R. Herschbach Award for Excellence in Research in Collision Dynamics, 2009
• Elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, 2006
• Schrödinger Medal of The World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists, 2006
• Lise Meitner Lectureship Award, 2006
• American Chemical Society Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry, 2006
• Festschrift Issue, Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2006
• University of Minnesota Inventor Recognition Award, 2005
• National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Reviewing, 2004
• Minnesota Award, 2003
• American Chemical Society Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2000
• George Taylor/Institute of Technology Alumni Society Distinguished Service Award, 1998
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994
• NSF Creativity Award, 1993
• Fellow of the American Physical Society, 1986
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, 1973

Selected Publications

For complete list of publications see: https://truhlar.chem.umn.edu/publications