James McConnell '07 (East Setauket, NY) is spending his summer in the lab of George Shields, the Winslow Professor of Chemistry, although he is also working on several projects with Associate Professor of Chemistry Timothy Elgren, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Karl Kirschner, and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Camille Jones respectively. Originally, McConnell had planned to work on heme-induced dehalogenation but has since branched out to other projects, all of which come under the umbrella headings of applied statistical thermodynamics and quantum mechanics.
One of these projects, the heme induced dehalogenation, involves a study of the free energies of reaction (on a basic level, an analysis of molecular conditions to see whether a reaction is more or less likely to occur). The research aims to better define the reactivity of heme enzymes. McConnell is also working on the vibrational analysis of crystals with Professors Elgren and Jones with the ultimate goal of pairing the results with experimental observations.
His second project is an examination of partition function-level behavior of chemical bonds. The partition function "takes the microscopic to the macroscopic" by relating the individual molecules to their macroscopic properties. McConnell is studying different types of bonds and how they vary in the hopes of creating a force field for molecular mechanics. In essence, he explains, he is using the same fundamental concepts to do different things; applying quantum mechanics and thermodynamics to do free energy calculations or to make a force field.
He is conducting most of his research with the computational modeling software Gaussian, which uses quantum mechanics to analyze molecules. He also works with a program he wrote himself, which shortens longhand work for partition function-level analysis of different types of bonds.
McConnell, a mathematics and chemistry major, is no stranger to summer research; he spent last summer working on heme dehalogenation in Professor Shields's lab and gaining some experience with thermodynamics and quantum mechanics. And he is not going to abandon this research in August: he hopes to continue some of this summer's work and expand it into his senior paper. After graduation, McConnell plans to attend law school, specializing in intellectual property and patent law.
During the school year, McConnell is a tutor in the Quantitative Literacy Center, Teaching Assistant for Symbolic Logic, a member of the chess, computer gaming and Republican clubs, and active with Habitat for Humanity.
-- by Lisbeth Redfield
