Personal Details

Dr Andrew Turner Ph.D. M.Phil. B.Sc.(Hons.)

e-mail: andrew.turner@ed.ac.uk

Date of birth: 8th January 1975

Nationality: British

Work Experience

October 2001 - Present. Research Associate at the University of Edinburgh.

November 1996 - July 1997. Systems Manager for the Centre for Computational Chemistry, University of Wales, Bangor.

The job involved day-to-day maintenance of a network consisting of seven graphics workstations and one supercomputer. I also had to organize installation of new software and set up the system for courses as well as help out in the teaching of people new to the system.

Higher Education

6/1998-10/2001 University of Liverpool. Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry

Studied for a Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr D.L. Cooper. Using the ab initio spin-coupled valence-bond technique to study charge-transfer processes of interest in astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. This involved calculating accurate potential energy surfaces and nonadiabatic radial and rotational couplings for a large number of electronic states of differing spin and symmetry over a wide range of nuclear geometries for both di- and triatomic systems. Fine structure effects also had to be taken into account for certain processes. I received my doctorate in July 2002.

1996-1997 University of Wales, Bangor. M.Phil. in Computational Chemistry

Obtained an M.Phil. under the supervision of Prof. N. Quirke: 'A Grand Canonical Monte Carlo study of adsorption on graphite surfaces with defects.' Such molecular simulations were used to investigate adsorption of nitrogen molecules onto graphite surfaces with a number of different physical defects. The graphite surface was modelled using a hybrid of the featureless Steele 10-4-3 potential and individual Lennard-Jones 12-6 atoms while a two-centre Lannard-Jones 12-6 model was used to represent the nitrogen molecules, both used custom force fields.

1993-1996 University of Wales, Bangor. B.Sc.(Hons.) in Chemistry.

Received a first class B.Sc. (Hons.) in chemistry. First year subsidiary subjects were mathematics, earth science and oceanography. Second year subsidiary subjects were mathematics and oceanography. My final year honours project was entitled 'An ab initio study of some aspects of molecules of spectroscopic interest'. The ab initio molecular orbital approach was used to generate accurate geometries for studying the interaction between two large amplitude vibrational modes in methanol and to help assign the spectrum of CF3CF=CH2. Awarded the Morris Centenary Prize for the top first year chemistry student in 1994.

Publications

A grand canonical Monte Carlo study of adsorption on graphitic surfaces with defects., A.R. Turner and N. Quirke, Carbon, (1998), 36:10, 1439-1446.

Electron capture in collisions of S4+ with atomic hydrogen, P.C. Stancil, A.R. Turner, D.L. Cooper, M.J. Rakovic, W. Fritsch and B. Zygelman, Journal of Physics B, (2001), 34:12, 1481-2504.

Low-Energy Charge Transfer in Multiply-Charged Ion-Atom Collisions Studied with the combined SCVB-MOCC approach, D.L. Cooper, P.C. Stancil, A.R. Turner, J.G. Wang, N.J. Clarke and B. Zygelman, International Journal of Molecular Science, (2002), 2, 1-10.

Electron capture in collisions of S4+ with helium, J.G. Wang, A.R. Turner, D.L. Cooper, D.R. Schultz, M.J. Rakovic, W. Fritsch, P.C. Stancil and B. Zygelman, Journal of Physics B, (2002), 35:14, 3137-3156.

Charge transfer of O3+ ions with atomic hydrogen, J.G. Wang, P.C. Stancil, A.R. Turner and D.L. Cooper, Physical Review A, (2003), 67, 012710.

Ab initio study of charge transfer in B 2+ low-energy collisions with atomic hydrogen, A.R. Turner, D.L. Cooper, J.G. Wang and P.C. Stancil, Physical Review A, (2003), 68, 012704.

Skills

Computing

Research work has given me a lot of experience in scientific programming with Fortran (77 and 90), Microsoft Visual Basic and Java.

Written and maintained Centre for Computational Chemistry, university caving club and my own personal websites. This involved HTML, Java and JavaScript programming.

Become familiar with most computer operating systems through my research and web authoring experience.

Planning

Studies have taught me how to set personal goals and targets and keep to them.

As an undergraduate and postgraduate student, learnt to work under pressure to tight deadlines.

My organizational skills have been improved by having to manage and interpret large amounts of scientific data.

Leadership and Teamwork

As a senior member of both Liverpool and Bangor University caving clubs I have developed my ability to lead and be responsible for other people.

My time with the caving clubs and also as a member of a large research group has taught me how to work effectively as part of a team.

Interpersonal

Presenting my research a conferences and seminars to a wide variety of audience has improved my communication skills.

Both teaching and working as a systems manager have given me the ability to understand and work with people from a range of different backgrounds.

Teaching and Support

Teaching mathematics to undergraduate chemistry students has improved my ability to teach to novices in a subject.

Working as a systems manager developed my ability to 'think on my feet' and provide solutions to unforeseen problems for network and software users.

Activities and Interests

Keen caver, have been a senior member and on the committees of both Bangor and Liverpool University caving clubs. For both clubs I was actively involved in training new members and organizing social events and caving trips. My interest in outdoor sports also extends to climbing and hill walking and I enjoy playing squash. I have many academic interests too, including reading, painting and natural history. I also take an active interest in all areas of science.

References

Academic and personal references are available upon request.