Name: Wojciech Rafal Grochala
E-mail: wg22_at_cornell.edu
Citizenship: Polish
Date of birth: 9th of December 1972, Warsaw, POLAND
Higher Education:
Oct 4, 2005 – present Assistant Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Technology of Novel Functional Materials, at the Interdisciplinary Center for Mathematical and Computational Modeling (ICM), University of Warsaw, Warsaw (Poland)
2005 – present Adjunct Associate at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Laboratory of Intermolecular Interactions, Warsaw (Poland); my research is concentrated on superconductivity, hydrogen storage and electronic bistability in molecules
Oct 24, 2005 Habilitation (D.Sc.) approved by the Central Commission on Academic Degrees
2005 Short time Research Associate at Geophysical Lab of the Carnegie Institution of Washington
Apr 6, 2005 Habilitation colloqium
2004 Habilitation (D.Sc.) Thesis submitted “Design of new families of superconducting materials based on the studies of vibronic coupling for simple molecules”
2002 – 2005 Senior Research Associate at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw
2002 Habilitation stipend awarded
2000 – 2001 Search for superconductivity in doped fluorides of Ag(II) project with Prof. Peter P. Edwards, at the School of Chemistry, the University of Birmingham, Birmingham (United Kingdom)
2000 – 2001 Cooperation with the European Commision Project Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Store for Integration into Automobiles (FUCHSIA) (ENK6-CT-2000-00318)
2000 Single molecule detection with SERRS project in cooperation with Prof. Dwayne Miller, at the Photonics Research Ontario and the Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto (Canada)
1999 – 2000 Postdoctoral Studies with Prof. Roald Hoffmann (Nobel Prize in chemistry 1981), at the Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca (USA)
1998 Mnemon project with Prof. Lucjan Piela, at the Dept. of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Quantum Chemistry Laboratory, Warsaw (Poland)
Nov 18, 1998 Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Dept. of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, thesis “Analysis of the components of the enhancement factors in the SERS and SERRS spectra”; supervisor: Prof. Jolanta Bukowska
1995 – 1998 postgraduate studies with Prof. Jolanta Bukowska at the Dept. of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Laboratory of Intermolecular Interactions
1995 M.Sc. in chemistry from the Dept. of Chemistry, the University of Warsaw; thesis “Electrooxidation of o-methoxyaniline as studied by SERS and SERRS spectroscopy on Ag and Au electrodes”; supervisor: Prof. J. Bukowska; graduation diploma cum laudae
1991 – 1995 graduate studies at the Dept. of Chemistry, the University of Warsaw.
Teaching Experience:
computational exercises and laboratories on molecular spectroscopy, physical, analytical and inorganic chemistry for chemists and biologists (I, II, and III year)
lectures on materials science for the I, IV and V year, and for the graduate students
Awards and Stipends:
2006 Stipend of The Polityka Foundation
2005 Scientific stipend of The Rector of The University of Warsaw
2004 Stipend of the The Foundation for Polish Science
2003 Chosen the best young Polish researcher of the Why magazine
2003 Stipend of the The Foundation for Polish Science
2002 Special stipend of The Rector of The University of Warsaw
2001 The Crescendum est Polonia Foundation Fellowship
2000/2001 The Royal Society Postdoctoral and Research Fellowships
1999/2000 The Kosciuszko Foundation Fellowship
1998 Departmental Award for the summa cum laude Ph. D. Thesis
1995 Departmental Award for the summa cum laude Master’s degree work
1988 1st place in Competition in Chemistry organized by the Warsaw University of Technology
1987 Laureate of XXXV Polish Olympic Competition in Chemistry
Conferences and Symposia:
4-14 VI 2009 Int. School of Crystallography, 41st Course: From Novel Experimental Approaches to Applications in Cutting-Edge Technologies (Erice, Italy), invited speaker
3-6 I 2009 Hydrogen and Hydrogen Storage: Methods and Materials (Bangalore, India), speaker
10-11 XII 2008 New Chemistry of the Elements: RSC Symposium in honour of Professor the Lord Lewis of Newnham (London, UK), invited speaker
15-19 IX 2008 E-MRS Fall Meeting (Warsaw, Poland), poster presentation
14-18 IX 2008 EU Network Hydrogen2 Symposium (Reykjavik, Iceland), invited speaker
24-28 VI 2008 Metal Hydrogen Systems Conference (Reykjavik, Iceland), posters presentation
26-30 V 2008 E-MRS Spring Meeting (Strasbourg, France), poster presentation
21-22 II 2008 Mathematics for key technologies and innovation (Warsaw, Poland), invited speaker
6-9 IV 2008 5th School of Thermal Analysis SAT’08 (Zakopane, Poland), poster
10-14 XII 2007 23rd Winter School in Quantum Chemistry 2007 (Helsinki, Finland), poster
6-8 XII 2007 2nd Workshop on ab initio phonon calculations (Cracow, Poland), posters
17-21 IX 2007 The Fall Meeting of the E-MRS (PW, Warsaw, Poland), posters presentations
9-12 IX 2007 The 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Polish Chemical Society (UMK, Toru?, Poland), invited speaker
15-20 VII 2007 15th European Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry (Inst. Chem. Techn., Prague, Czech Rep.), speaker and poster presentation
8-13 VII 2007 Hydrogen Metal Systems (Gordon Research Conference) (Colby College, Waterville ME, USA), poster
16-17 IV 2007 EU Network Hydrogen2 Symposium (Shell, Amsterdam, The Netherlands), invited speaker
10-15 IX 2006 Modelling and Design of Molecular Materials 2006 (Technical Univ. Of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland), invited speaker
7-8 IX 2006 Polish-German Workshop: Modelling Structure Formation (ICM, Univ. Of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland), invited speaker
20-25 VIII 2006 XVIII IUPAC Conference On Physical Organic Chemistry (Warsaw, Poland), speaker
21-22 VI 2006 Accelrys Materials Science UGM (ICM, Warsaw, Poland), invited lecture
10-15 VII 2005 Hydrogen Metal Systems (Gordon Research Conference) (Colby College, Waterville ME, USA), invited lecture
6 XI 2004 4th Fall Workshop – Complex processes: modelling, simulation and optimisation (Bedlewo, Poland), invited speaker
17-18 IX 2004 Modelling and Design of Molecular Materials (Wroclaw, Poland), invited speaker and poster presentation
7-10 IX 2004 International Symposium on Metal-Hydrogen Systems (Cracow, Poland), poster presentation
5-6 IX 2004 E-MRS Fall Meeting (Warsaw, Poland), invited speaker and poster presentation
26 VI 2004 Andreas Albrecht’s Tribute Symposium (Ithaca, USA), speaker
19-20 XII 2001 RSC Solid State Group Christmas Meeting (Birmingham, UK), poster presentation
16-22 VIII 2000 15th International Jahn-Teller Symposium “Vibronic Interactions in Crystals and Molecules” (Boston, USA), invited speaker
5-10 IX 1999 50th ISE Meeting: “200 Years of Electrochemical Energy Conversion” (Pavia, Italy), poster presentation
22-25 VIII 1998 2nd International Conference: “Vibrational Spectroscopy in Materials Science” (Kraków, Poland), poster presentation
21-25 VIII 1995 6th International Frumkin Symposium: “Fundamental Aspects of Electrochemistry” (Moscow, Russia), poster presentation
Recent Lectures and Invited Lectures:
“Quo vadis noble gas chemistry?”, Universita de la Tuscia, Viterbo, 9 Jun 2009
“Quest for superconductivity in compounds of divalent silver: 8 years after the prediction “, Jozef Stefan Institute Seminar, Ljubljana, 5 Jun 2009
“Copper, silver and gold – different, different, different!”, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry Slovak Acad. of Sci., Bratislava, 3 Jun 2009
“Use of powder XRD for investigations carried out in the LTNFM UW”, LBS, Univ. of Warsaw, Warsaw, 26 Nov 2008
“Unusual oxidation states, unusual bonds and The Realm of High Pressure”, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, 2 Jun 2008
“Between Zero and Infinity”, MKTI conference, Warsaw, 22 Feb 2008
“Putting the squeeze on AgF2”, Winter Grant Session of KDM@ICM, Jadwisin, 10 Mar 2007
“At Non-Stochastic Paths of the Laboratory of Technology of Novel Functional Materials, ICM”, ICM, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 7 Sep 2006
“Cs2AgF4 – ferromagnetic analogue of oxocuprate superconductors, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 19 May 2006
“New kind of molecular memory based on intramolecular 2e- redox reaction”, Winter Grant Session of KDM@ICM, Piecki, 18 Feb 2006
“Investigations of the electronic and phononic structure of novel fluorides of Ag(II), multinary hydrides and derivatives of MgB2”, Winter Grant Session of KDM@ICM, Piecki, 18 Feb 2006
“Dawn of the new chemistry – on the atypical compounds of gases, which once have been called ‘noble’ “, Winter School of Student Section of The Polish Chemical Society, Warsaw, 10 Dec 2005
“Titanium-Substituted Hydrocarbons”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 4 Nov 2005
“Hydrogen Wars i.e. the fall of the fossil fuels era”, Inauguration of the Academic Year at the Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 30 Sep 2005
“When I am Squeezing Molecules … i.e. Chemistry at Ultra-High Pressures”, ChemSession II, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 13 May 2005, and Department of Chemistry, The Nicolaus Copernicus University of Torun (Poland), 27 Apr 2005 and the 50th Anniversary of the Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, 28 Oct 2005
“From generic 2e- electromerism towards a novel mnemonic device”, Geophysical Laboratory, The Carnegie Institution of Washington (Washington DC, US), 3 Feb 2005
“Possibility of Metallizing Silane at High Pressure – a DFT Study”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 5 Nov 2004
“Hunt for the Novel Families of High-Tc Superconductors: Fluorides and Hydrides”, Chemistry Department, McMaster University (Hamilton ON, Canada), 20 Jul 2004
“Hydrogen storage for transportation; Challenges and tasks of chemistry”, Geophysical Laboratory, The Carnegie Institution of Washington (Washington DC, US), 7 Jul 2004
“Hunt for the Novel Families of High-Tc Superconductors: Fluorides and Hydrides”, Geophysical Laboratory, The Carnegie Institution of Washington (Washington DC, US), 6 Jul 2004
“Everything you would like to know on use of the ultra-high pressures in chemistry, but are afraid to ask”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 3 Mar 2004
“Dawn of the new chemistry – on the atypical compounds of gases, which once have been called ‘noble’ “, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 27 Feb 2004
“Vehicles fueled with hydrogen – the near future or a fiction?”, Thursday Meetings of the Polish Society of Chemistry, Warsaw (Poland), 26 Feb 2004
“Deliberate choice of the chemical elements of the Mendeleyev’s Grand Periodic Table as crucial factor in the construction of new materials”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 17 Jan 2004
“On the common yet desperately-avoided bond lengths in a ‘magic state’ of solid matter”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 13 Jan 2004
“The low-barrier H2 absorption and molecular memory – what do they have in common?”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 21 Nov 2003
“How to earn billion dollars? The issue of hydrogen storage for transportation”, Jozef Stefan Institute (Ljubljana, Slovenia), 9 Sept 2003
“Unusual fluorides of silver at high oxidation states”, Jozef Stefan Institute (Ljubljana, Slovenia), 8 Sept 2003
“Theoretical Quest for the Titanium-Substituted Hydrocarbons (TSHs). A simple play on electronegativity”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 7 May 2003
“Unusual fluorides of silver at high oxidation states”, Department of Chemistry, The University of Gdansk (Poland), 4 Dec 2002
“Problems of Hydrogen Storage for Transportation. How Theory Can Help?” as above, 5 Dec 2002
“Applied Quantum Chemistry” Laboratory of Quantum Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 11 April 2002
“Chemistry of Vibronic Coupling” Department of Chemistry, The University of Warsaw (Poland), 1 March 2002
Present Occupation:
D.Sc. Assistant Professor (position corresponding to tenured professor in the U.S.) at the Department of Chemistry, Warsaw University (since Feb 15, 2002)
Head of the Laboratory of Technology of Novel Functional Materials (since Oct 4 2005) at the Interdisciplinary Center for Mathematical and Computational Modeling (ICM), University of Warsaw.
This occupation involves both research and teaching undergraduate and graduate students at the Department of Chemistry, as well as supervising undergraduate works, Ph.D. Theses, and postdocs.
Other Professional Activities:
2008 interview for ‘Kwartalnik UW’ about design of novel molecules containing chemically bound helium (Dec 2008)
2008 interview for ‘Kaleidoscope’ – a monthly in-flight magazine of LOT Polish Airlines (Mar 2008)
2007 interview for ‘Kwartalnik UW’ about research conducted by LTNFM (Oct 2007)
2007 member of the Scientific Council of the Crescendum-Est Polonia Foundation (Poland)
2007 member of the International Advisory Editorial Board of the Journal of Materials Chemistry (RSC, UK)
2006 member of the Scientific Council of ICM, The University of Warsaw (Poland)
2006 interview for Sparing web portal (www.sparing.pl)
2006 scientific advisor to The Kosciuszko Foundation (USA/PL), Polish Academic Commission
2006 interview for ‘The Warsaw Voice’ on the future of H2-fueled vehicles (Feb 2006)
2005 interview for Polish TV1 on current status of hydrogen storage technologies (‘Symulator Faktu’ 28 Oct 2005)
2004 featured in the 2004 calendar ‘People and Passions’ commemorating Poland’s accession to the EU
2003 seminar on management consulting organized by McKinsey & Company, Poland
2003 interview for the Department of Environment Protection of IKEA on novel environmentally benign technologies, and couple of interviews for Polish radio
2002 review of the concept of FIRE foundation for the Polish Federation of Private Enterpreneurs
2002 establishing contacts with 3TS Venture Partners (an European venture capital company)
2002 meetings on successful shift from R&D to running own spin-off, at the residence of Science Attache of the Federal Republic of Germany in Warsaw, Dr. K. Buschbeck
2001 consulting for the Capital Conceptions company (Texas)