Victoria Lee
*Student participation supported by DMR Award #1950557
I’m currently a junior at SFASU with the plan to enter the forensics field once I graduate. As part of my degree, I am researching the theoretical interactions of phencyclidine with various drug identification field test reagents (i.e., cobalt thiocyanate, selenous acid) used in forensic chemical detection tests. I am fascinated with STEM subjects and am enthusiastic about solving problems. For entertainment in my free time, I like to bake and explore outdoors, and I love to spend time with animals.
This summer, Tori will be working with Dr. Rachel Getman and Stephen Vicchio, utilizing quantum chemical calculations on the Palmetto Supercomputer to determine the oxo formation energy in MIL-100(M), where M = Fe3+, Cr3+, and Al3+ with different spectator ligands present. By computing the reaction thermodynamics with Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, the influence of the MIL-100 metal center and the role of the spectator ligands will be determined. With these structure-function relationships elucidated, the oxo formation energy will be tuned using spectator ligands to optimize performance of the catalyst.