Valenzano's CV

Education

• 2003, Ph.D. in Theoretical Physical Chemistry, Chemistry Department, University of Southampton, Southampton, England
• 2000, M.Sc. in Physics, Physics Department, University of Turin, Turin (Italy) and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Stanford (USA)

Appointments

•  August 2012-present, Assistant Professor, Chemistry Department, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
• 2010-August 2012, Assistant Research Scientist, Physics Department, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
• 2005-2010, Postdoctoral Fellow and Instructor, Chemistry Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
• 2003-2005, Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemistry Department, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands

Research Interests

Computational characterization of molecules and materials: 

• energetic materials
• nanoporous materials 
• cementing materials
• pharmaceuticals
• crystal growth, nucleation
• surfaces
• effect of defects on the properties of materials
• effect of water on material evolution and degradation
• biomolecules

Publications

See:    http://valenzanogroup.blogspot.com/p/publications.html

Seminars/Lectures/Conference Presentations
(since at Michigan Tech only)

As Speaker:

• Invited Seminar at Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, UCLA, October 2013
• Talk at American Physical Society (APS), March Meeting, Baltimore (MD), 2013
• Talk at Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), New Orleans (LA), April 2013
• Invited Seminar at DoD, Aberdeen Proving Ground (MD), March 2013
• Invited Seminar at Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, UCLA, March 2013
• Invited Seminar at Department of Chemistry, Michigan Tech, Houghton (MI), 2011
• Talk at American Physical Society (APS), March Meeting, Dallas (TX), 2011
• Talk at Material Research Society (MRS), Spring Meeting, San Francisco (CA), 2011
• 2 Talks at SCCM – Shock and Compression Condensed Matter, Chicago (IL), 2011
• Invited Seminar at MTU Physics Colloquium, Department of Physics, Michigan Tech, Houghton (MI), 2010

As Group Leader (presentations by postdocs/students):

• Poster, NMU Student Research Symposium, Marquette (MI), March 2014 (Mr C. Stewart, Undergraduate)
• Poster, NMU Student Research Symposium, Marquette (MI), March 2014 (Miss K. Weinand, Undergraduate)
• Poster, NMU Student Research Symposium, Marquette (MI), March 2014 (Mr M. Szatkowski, Undergraduate)
• Poster, NMU Student Research Symposium, Marquette (MI), March 2014 (Mr D. Beegle, Undergraduate)
• Poster, NMU Student Research Symposium, Marquette (MI), March 2014 (Mr M. Pirkola, Undergraduate)
• Poster, NMU Student Research Symposium, Marquette (MI), March 2014 (Mr G. Degaga, Graduate Student)
• Poster, MTU Undergraduate Research Expo, Houghton (MI), March 2014 (Mr C. Stewart, Undergraduate)
• Poster, MTU Undergraduate Research Expo, Houghton (MI), March 2014 (Miss K. Weinand, Undergraduate)
• Talk, ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Dallas (TX), March 2014 (Mr D. Beegle, Undergraduate)
• Talk, ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Dallas (TX), March 2014 (Mr A. Perla, Undergraduate)
• Talk, ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Dallas (TX), March 2014 (Mr G. Degaga, Grad Student)
• Talk, ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Dallas (TX), March 2014 (Dr K. Adhikari, Postdoc)
• Talk, ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Dallas (TX), March 2014 (Dr J. Huang, Postdoc @UCLA)
• Poster, Michigan Space Grant - NASA, Ann Arbor (MI), November 2013 (Mr Matthew Pirkola, Undegraduate)
• Talk at ACS National Meeting and Exposition, San Diego (CA), March 2012 (Mr. A.J. Kennedy, Undergraduate)

As co-author (through collaborations):

• Poster at ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Indianapolis (IN), 2013 (Mr. J. Zhang)
• Talk at Oxide 2012: V Workshop on Oxide Based Materials, Torino – Italy, 2012 (Dr. B. Civalleri)
• Poster at XIX Italian Synchrotron Radiation Society (SILS) National Meeting, Trieste – I, 2011 (Mr. D. Gianoglio)
• 3 Talks at SCCM – Shock and Compression Condensed Matter, Chicago (IL), 2011 (Prof. W. F. Perger)
• Talk at ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Anaheim (CA), 2011 (Prof. C. Lamberti)
• Talk at Workshop: MOF Synthesis and Structure, Royal Society of Chemistry, London - UK, 2010 (Prof. S. Bordiga)

Funding

• Michigan Tech start-up allocation
• UCLA
• MSGC-NASA
• Pruett Scholarship

Affiliations

• Member of the American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Chair-Elect of the Upper Peninsula ACS Local Section (2014)
• Member of the American Physical Society (APS)
• Member of the Material Research Society (MRS)
• Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC); certified approval to use the designatory letters MRSC

Editorial Activities

Reviewer for:

• Journal of American Chemical Society – JACS (ACS) 
• Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (ACS)
• Journal of Materials Chemistry A: Materials for energy and sustainability  (RSC) 
• Journal of Materials Chemistry B: Materials for biology and medicine (RSC) 
• Journal of Materials Chemistry C: Materials for optical and electronic devices (RSC) 
• Journal of Physical Chemistry C (ACS) 
• Inorganic Chemistry (ACS) 
• Dalton Transactions (RSC)
• CrystEngComm (RSC) 
• PCCP (RSC) 
• Journal of Physical Chemistry A (ACS) 
• New Journal of Chemistry (RSC) 
• Chemical Physics Letters (Elsevier) 
• Materials (MDPI)
• Journal of Solid State Chemistry (Elsevier) 
• Applied Surface Science (Elsevier) 
• Computational Materials Science (Elsevier) 
• Physica B: Condensed Matter (Elsevier) 
• Journal of Porous Materials (Springer) 
• Journal of Chemical Physics (AIP)

Teaching at Michigan Tech 

(also reporting students' teaching evaluation)

• Summer 2014 - Physical Chemistry I, CH3510Online, Not evaluated (TBA students)
• Spring 2014 - Physical Chemistry I, CH3510, TBA/5.00 (59 students)
• Fall 2013 – Computational Chemistry, CH4560/CH5560, 4.50/5.00 (10 students)
• Spring 2013 - Physical Chemistry I, CH3510, 4.80/5.00 (40 students)
• Spring 2013 - Physical Chemistry I, CH3511, Lab Advisor, Not evaluated
•  Fall 2012 – Physical Chemistry I, CH3510, 4.75/5.00 (90 students)
•  Fall 2012 – Physical Chemistry I, CH3511, Lab Advisor, Not evaluated
• Summer 2012 - Physical Chemistry I, CH3510, Not evaluated (9 students)
• Summer 2012 - Physical Chemistry I Lab, CH3511, Lab Advisor, Not evaluated
• Spring 2012 - Physical Chemistry I, CH3510, 4.55/5.00 (35 students)
• Spring 2012 - Physical Chemistry I Lab, CH3511, Lab Advisor, Not evaluated
• Fall 2011 - Physical Chemistry I, CH3510, 4.65/5.00 (76 students) 
• Fall 2011 - Physical Chemistry I Lab, CH3511, Lab Advisor, Not evaluated
• Spring 2011 - Electronic Structure Methods, PH4999, 4.75/5.00 (8 students)
• Fall 2010 - Introduction to Solid State Physics, PH4510, 4.80/5.00 (8 students)

Teaching at University of Turin (Italy)

• 2006-2010: Physical Chemistry I, 180 students (Chemistry)
• 2009: University Physics II, 35 students (Chemical Engineering)
• 2009-2010: Structural, electric, elastic, and vibrational properties of solids: a theoretical approach - A 20 hours course of theoretical and practical investigation into the properties of solids with the PC, 15 students (Chemistry and Materials Science)
• 2008-2010: Laboratory of Infrared molecular spectroscopy, 25 students (Chemistry)
• 2006-2010: Several Special Topic Courses on Theoretical Chemistry, Electronic Structure Theory, Ab-Initio Modeling of Materials

Postdocs/Students Advising at Michigan Tech

Postdoctoral Fellows (2):

• Dr. Kapil Adikari (UTA, PhD 2012)
• Dr. Jian Huang (SJTU, PhD 2012, co-advised with Prof. Sant @UCLA)

Graduate Students (2):

• Nina Tyminska (MTU, PhD, 2013, graduated – Currently at University of Buffalo, NY)
• Gemechis Dereje Degaga (MTU, PhD 2017)

Undergraduate Students (14):

• Andrew J. Kennedy (MTU, BS Chemistry)
• Modou Gaye (MTU, BS Physics)
• Gordon Cordes (MTU, BS Chemistry)
• Ethan Weydemeyer (MTU, BS Chemical Engineering)
• Benedict Malec (MTU, BS Physics)
• Michael Szatkowski (MTU, BS Chemistry/Chemical Engineering)
• Andrew J Perla (MTU, BS Chemistry)
• Daniel LaForest (MTU, BS Chemical Engineering)
• Daniel Beegle (MTU, BS Chemistry)
• Matthew Pirkola (MTU, BS Chemical Engineering)
• Izabela Birsanescu (University of Michigan, BS Biochemistry)
• Logan Pauli (MTU, BS Physics)
• Kathryn Weinand (MTU, BS Chemistry)
• Christopher Stewart (MTU, BS Chemistry)