SEP Alignment of Small Molecules for Collision Dynamics Studies - Seeding a New Collaboration Between Howard University (US) and Heriot Watt University (UK)

智力优势：美国国家科学基金会催化新国际合作计划的支持将在两个研究弹性和非弹性旋转能量传递（RET）立体动力学的不同方法的小组之间建立一个新的合作：华盛顿特区霍华德大学的Halpern小组和苏格兰爱丁堡赫瑞瓦特大学的McKendrick-Costen小组。霍华德大学和赫瑞瓦特大学的专业知识和仪器是互补的。该奖项将支持Halpern教授和学生前往赫瑞瓦特大学进行概念验证实验。目的是利用模拟发射泵浦制备振动激发基态CN自由基的取向样品，并利用调频瞬态吸收光谱探测制备态。更广泛的影响：该项目汇集了两个对碰撞极化转移和淬火研究有贡献的小组。这次合作将极大地促进我们对这一基本过程的理解，这是对计算势能表面并在其上进行动力学的能力的严峻考验。它将在大气和燃烧化学动力学等领域提供定性的见解，其中小的自由基能量转移和反应是基本的。合作双方都认为这项初步工作将支持进一步的提案、出版物和学生培训。合作的国际性质推动了NSF？美国的全球科学目标。霍华德大学是一所HBCU，为非洲裔美国人提供服务，并有大量非洲裔国际学生。新的合作，霍华德学生参与研究访问，以及他们未来将从合作中获得的机会，将支持NSF的目标，即增加美国STEM领域中代表性不足的群体的参与，并拥有全球外展。

Intellectual Merit: Support from the NSF Catalyzing New International Collaborations Program will establish a new collaboration between two groups who have developed different methods for studying the stereodynamics of elastic and inelastic rotational energy transfer (RET): the Halpern group at Howard University in Washington, DC and the McKendrick-Costen group at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. The expertise and instrumentation at Howard and Heriot Watt are complementary. The award will support travel of Prof. Halpern and students to Heriot-Watt to undertake proof of concept experiments. The goal is to prepare oriented samples of vibrationally excited, ground state CN radicals using simulated emission pumping and probe the prepared states by frequency modulated transient absorption spectroscopy. Broader Impacts: This project brings together two groups that have contributed to the study of collisional polarization transfer and quenching. The collaboration will substantially advance our understanding of this basic process, which is a severe test of the ability to calculate potential energy surfaces and carry out dynamics on them. It will provide qualitative insights in areas such as atmospheric and combustion chemical dynamics where small radical energy transfer and reactions are basic. Both sides of the collaboration view this preliminary work which will support further proposals, publications and student training. The international nature of the collaboration advances NSF?s goal of global science. Howard University is an HBCU, serving African Americans and with a substantial number of international students of African descent. The new collaboration, involvement of Howard students in the research visits and the opportunities for them that will grow out of the collaboration in the future will support NSF goal of growing participation from groups that are under-represented in STEM fields in the US as well as having a global outreach.