ACS Central Science Publication Featured by PME
Graduate students, Daniel King and Jacob Wardzala, and Laura Gagliardi were recently published in ACS Central Science and featured on the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering website. We would like to note that this is Jacob Wardzala’s first publication with the Gagliardi Group. Congratulations, Jacob! In their publication, Organic Reactivity Made Easy and Accurate with Automated Multireference Calculations, the group discusses automated multiconfigurational pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) calculations, a method they applied to 908 automatically generated organic reactions and found that the automated multiconfigurational approach provided more accurate and/or efficient descriptions than those of DFT and CCSD(T).
Abhishek Mitra Wins IBM-Zerner Graduate Student Award
Abhishek Mitra receives the IBM-Zerner Graduate Student Award from Professor Richard G. Hennig at the 63rd Sanibel Symposium for his poster presentation, Towards Practical Quantum Chemistry on Quantum Computers using Localized Active Spaces. Congratulations, Abhishek!


Joanna Wang passes her candidacy exam

The Gagliardi Group congratulates Joanna Wang for successfully passing her candidacy exam! Joanna’s work focuses on “Unraveling chemical processes through hybrid quantum-classical algorithms with localized wave functions.” Her primary research interests are developing hybrid algorithms for multireference theory and studying chemical reactions with multireference methods. We eagerly anticipate her continued success and contributions to the field. Well done, Joanna!
Gagliardi Group welcomes graduate student Ruijie (Ray) Zhu!

The Gagliardi Research Group welcomes Ruijie (Ray) Zhu to the team.
Gagliardi Group welcomes new staff Researcher in Quantum AI

The Gagliardi Group welcomes, Romit Chakraborty, new Staff Researcher in Quantum AI, to the group.
Gagliardi Research Group welcomes three new graduate students
We are thrilled to introduce our newest Graduate Students to the Gagliardi Research Group: Aniruddha Seal, Ruohe (Brian) Wang, and Ida Vaghefi.



Congratulations to Abhishek Mitra, Shreya Verma, and Mukunda Mandal for receiving Travel Awards
Abhishek Mitra and Shreya Verma received Windt Graduate Student Travel Awards and Mukunda Mandal received the Kharasch Postdoctoral Travel Award.
Pictured: Abhishek Mitra, Shreya Verma, Mukunda Mandal
The Gagliardi Group embarks on a two-day retreat
During the retreat, the group engaged in fruitful discussions about science and participated in collaborative brainstorming.




Congratulations to Bhavnesh Jangid and Jacob Wardzala upon passing their candidacy exams


The Gagliardi Group congratulates Bhavnesh Jangid and Jacob Wardzala on their achievement in passing their candidacy exams! Bhavnesh’s work focuses on the “Development of quantum embedding based methods for efficient and accurate prediction of the core-level spectroscopy” and Jacob’s focuses on “Automated active space selection for systematic multireference calculations in reactivity”. The Gagliardi group wishes you both continued success as you progress in your academic endeavors.
Farewell Announcement: Dr. Arup Sarkar departs from the Gagliardi Group

The Gagliardi Group wishes farewell to Dr. Arup Sarkar as he takes the next steps in his career. We wish you all the best for your future endeavors and have no doubt that you will achieve great success!
Double the Cheers, Double the Joy
The Gagliardi Group celebrates not just one but two group members. We are wishing a very Happy Birthday to Valay Agarawal, our brilliant PhD student, and Soumi Haldar, our dedicated postdoctoral researcher. Here’s to many more moments of working well together and achieving great things!


Laura Gagliardi is featured on Inside Quantum Technology News’ Women of Quantum Technology series

Laura Gagliardi is featured on Inside Quantum Technology in an interview where she discusses her journey from Italy to the US, her passion for the field of Quantum Chemistry and the vital role of theoretical chemistry in shaping the future of the field. Read full publication here.
Gagliardi Group says Farewell to Gautam Stroscio

It’s with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to our brilliant colleague, Gautam Stroscio, as he embarks on a new adventure. After making valuable contributions to the Gagiardi Research Group, Gautam is taking his talents to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Shreya Verma Receives Honorable Mention in the 2022-23 PME Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards

The Gagliardi group congratulates Shreya Verma for achieving honorable mention in the 2022-23 Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards. Shreya has earned this recognition for her exemplary service as a Teaching Assistant for the course MENG 25510 – Quantum Molecular and Materials Modeling.
Saumil Chheda and Benjamin Yeh successfully graduate from the University of Minnesota


Join us in celebrating the graduation of Saumil Chedda and Benjamin Yeh from the University of Minnesota. Saumil’s next position will be as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Climate Change, Machine Learning, and Advanced Materials at the Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet in University of California Berkeley, under the guidance of Professor Omar Yaghi. Ben’s next position will be as a Process Development/Scale-Up Engineer at ExxonMobil in Baytown, Texas.
Striking Pins and Camaraderie with the Gagliardi Group
The Gagliardi Research Group enjoy an evening of camaraderie and pin-crashing fun as they slipped on their bowling shoes in an unforgettable outing of friendly competition! Strikes, spares, and the occasional gutter ball brought cheers and laughter echoing through the bowling alley as friendships strengthened and new bonds formed. A successful team not only thrives on shared academic pursuits but also on shared experiences of joy and amusement.

Gagliardi group welcomes four new summer student researchers!
Gagliardi group welcomes four first-year graduate students for summer rotations. The students will be paired with mentors in the Gagliardi Group to gain research experience in theoretical chemistry.
- Serina Tressler, mentored by Dr. Mukunda Mandal
- Alex Hoehn, mentored by Valay Agarawal
- Brian Wang, mentored by Shreya Verma
- Aniruddha Seal, mentored by Matthew Hennefarth
Farewell Announcement: Dr. Paul Calio Departs from the Gagliardi Group

The Gagliardi Group bids a bittersweet farewell to Dr. Paul Calio as he embarks on a new chapter in his career. We express our appreciation for his work and positive influence.
Alfreda Grace Joins Gagliardi Group

Alfreda Grace joins the Gagliardi Group as its new Managing Director. Welcome, Alfreda!
Matthew Hennefarth has received the Olshansky Graduate Student Travel Award.
Matthew will use it to attend the 17th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY. https://icqc2023.org
Where he will present a poster on his research on linearized pair-density functional theory.
Way to go Matt!
Daniel King receives the Eugene Olshansky Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Research
Daniel studies the automation of multiconfigurational methods for high-throughput computation, and uses this data to further computational methodologies with data science and machine learning. He also works with experimentalists to accelerate data-driven improvement in transition metal catalysis.
Dr. Mukunda Mandal has joined the Gagliardi Group!
Mukunda Mandal has joined the group as a postdoc, most recently a postdoc at Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany
He is interested in Electronic Structure, Catalysis, and Reticular Frameworks. Welcome Mukunda!
Matthew Hennefarth has received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award

Graduate student Matthew Hennefarth has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. This award will support him for the next 3 years as he works on developing multi-state pair-density functional theory for non-adiabatic molecular dynamics. Congratulations!
You can find out more about the award here: https://www.nsfgrfp.org.