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

智力价值：NSF催化新的国际合作计划的支持将在两个小组之间建立新的合作，这两个小组开发了不同的方法来研究弹性和非弹性旋转能量转移(RET)的立体动力学：华盛顿特区霍华德大学的Halpern小组和苏格兰爱丁堡Heriot-Watt大学的McKendrick-Costen小组。霍华德和赫里奥特·瓦特的专业知识和仪器是相辅相成的。该奖项将资助Halpern教授和学生前往Heriot-Watt进行概念验证实验。目标是利用模拟发射泵浦制备振动激发基态CN自由基取向样品，并用调频瞬时吸收光谱探测所制备的态。更广泛的影响：这个项目汇集了两个小组，他们为研究碰撞极化转移和猝灭做出了贡献。这次合作将极大地促进我们对这一基本过程的理解，这是对计算势能面和在其上进行动力学能力的严峻考验。它将在大气和燃烧化学动力学等领域提供定性的见解，在这些领域，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。合作的国际性推进了美国国家科学基金会S的全球科学目标。霍华德大学是一所HBCU，为非裔美国人服务，拥有相当数量的非洲裔国际学生。新的合作，霍华德学生对研究访问的参与，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领域代表性不足的群体的参与，并进行全球推广。

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.