POWRE: Interfacial Water From Molecular to Mesoscopic Scale

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This award of the Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education (POWRE) program funded by the Division of Chemistry supports the research and educational activities of Dr. Alenka Luzar at the University of California at San Francisco. The research aims to understand hydrophobic phenomena and their relationship with hydrophilicity and with water hydrogen-bond dynamics in confined geometries. The ultimate goal is to elucidate static and dynamic aspects of solvent-induced forces between synthetic and biological solutes in an aqueous environment with special emphasis on the dynamical aspects. These issues will be attacked on several fronts using the methods of statistical mechanics. Molecular dynamics simulations, large-scale Monte Carlo techniques, and field theoretic models will be employed.The opportunity afforded through the POWRE program will enhance Dr. Luzar's research potential as well as her ultimate goal of the educational mentoring of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scientists in both classroom and research laboratory. The proposed research program is relevant to many complex and poorly understood everyday phenomena in biochemistry and materials science. Examples include the action of detergents, biological organization and interactions in biological membranes.