Education

Positions and Employment

Professor and President’s Distinguished Fellow: Chemistry, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS

1998 ‑              Director: Computational Center for Molecular Structure and Interactions - NSF Center of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST)

1995 – 2001    Professor: Chemistry, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS

1993 ‑ 1995     Associate Professor: Chemistry, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS

1990 ‑ 1993     Assistant Professor: Chemistry, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS

1988 ‑ 1990     Research Associate: Chemistry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

1986 ‑ 1988    Visiting Scientist: Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

1976 ‑ 1986     Lecturer: Chemistry, Technical University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland

Awards and Honors (selected)

• Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the Conferences “Current Trends in Computational Chemistry” (Jackson, Mississippi, 1992-2003)
• Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the “Southern School on Computational Chemistry” (Orange Beach, Alabama, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004).
• JSU Outstanding Faculty of the Year, Higher Education Appreciation Day, Working for Academic Excellence (HEADWAE), 1995.
• Team Coordinator for Environmental Science at the University of Minnesota, Army High Performance Computing Research Center, 1997 ‑ 2001.
• Portfolio Coordinator for Chemical – Biological Defense and Environmental Modeling at the University of Minnesota, AHPCRC, 2001- present.
• Presidential Distinguished Scholar Award, Jackson State University, 2001.
• 2001 White House Millennium HBCU Award for Science and Technology.
• Member of Research Board of Advisors for American Biographical Institute, 2002.
• Corresponding Member of the European Academy of Sciences 2002.
• Distinguished Faculty Fellow, 2003 ONR-ASEE Summer Faculty Research Program.
• Honorary Doctorate, Dnipropetrovsk National University, 2003.
• Honorary Member, International Academy of Engineering, 2003.
• Medal for Distinguished Scientific Service, Prydniprovsk State Academy of Civil Engineering, Dnipropetrovsk, 2003.
• Million Dollar Grantsmanship Award, Jackson State University, 2003.
• Honorary Professorship, Wroclaw University of Technology, 2004

Editorial Activities (selected)

• Editor “Structural Chemistry”, Kluwer/Plenum Press, 2004- present.
• Founding Editor-in-Chief of “International Journal of Molecular Sciences”, Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland, 2004 – present.
• Editor of the book series: “Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics,” Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, 2004 – present
• Editor of the volume: “Computational Materials Science” for a book series “Theoretical and Computational Chemistry”, Vol. 15, Elsevier, 2004.
• Guest Editor of Special Issue “11^th Annual Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry,” in “International Journal of Quantum Chemistry,” (Wiley), Vol. 96, Number 4, 2004.
• Guest Editor of Special Issue on Computational Studies on Nucleic Acid Building Blocks in “Biopolymers (Nucleic Acid Sciences)”, (Wiley), Vol. 61, Number 1, 2001/2002.
• Member of Editorial Board of “Annals of the European Academy of Sciences”.

Selected peer-reviewed publications (in chronological order)

• (Publications selected from 391peer-reviewed publications)

• Chapter “Interactions of Model Organic Species and Explosives with Clay Minerals,” A. Michalkova, L. Gorb and J. Leszczynski, pages 341-388 in the book “Energetic Materials,” P. Politzer and J.S. Murray (Editors), in the series “Theoretical and Computational Chemistry,” Vol. 12, Elsevier, 2003.
• Chapter “Isolated, Solvated and Complexed Nucleic Acid Bases: Structures and Properties,” J. Leszczynski, pages 209-265 in the book “Advances in Molecular Structure Research,” Vol. 6, JAI Press, 2000.
• “Theoretical Study of Adsorption of Methyl tert-butyl Ether on the Substituted Tetrahedral Surface of Dickite,” A. Michalkova, L. Gorb, O. A. Zhikol, J. Leszczynski, Int. J. Quantum Chem., 100, 818, 2004.
• “Theoretical Study of the Adsorption and Decomposition of Sarin on Magnesium, Oxide,” A. Michalkova, M. Ilchenko, L. Gorb, J. Leszczynski, J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108, 5294.
• “Adsorption of Sarin and Soman on Dickite: An ab Initio ONIOM Study,”
  A. Michalkova, L. Gorb, M. Ilchenko, O. A. Zhikol, O. V. Shishkin, and J. Leszczynski,
  J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108, 1918. 
•  “Comprehensive Theoretical Study of the Conversion Reactions of Spiropyrans: Substituent and Solvent Effects,” Y. Sheng, J. Leszczynski, A.A. Garcia, R. Rosario, D. Gust, J. Springer, J. Phys. Chem. B, 108, 16233, 2004.
• “H-Bonding Patterns in the Platinated Guanine-Cytosine Base Pair and Guanine-Cytosine-Guanine-Cytosine Base Tetrad: an Electron Density Deformation Analysis and AIM Study,” J. Gu, J. Wang, J. Leszczynski, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 126, 12651, 2004.
•  “The Effect of Electron Detachment on the Structure and Properties of the Chlorine-Acetonitrile Anionic Complex,” M.F. Rode, S. Roszak, J.J. Szymczak, J. Sadlej, J. Leszczynski, J. Chem. Phys., 121, 6277, 2004.
•  “Double-Proton Transfer in Adenine-Thymine and Guanine-Cytosine Base Pairs. A Post-Hartree-Fock ab Initio Study,” L. Gorb, Y. Podolyan, P. Dziekonski, W.A. Sokalski, J. Leszczynski, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 126, 10119, 2004.
• “The Li⁺ Cations — The Descendant of H⁺ or an Ancestor of Na⁺? The Properties of Li⁺Ar_n (n = 1-6) Clusters,” J.J. Szymczak, K.T. Giju, S. Roszak, and J. Leszczynski, J. Phys. Chem. A, 108, 6570, 2004.
• “H···σ Interactions – an ab Initio and ‘Atoms in Molecules’ Study,” J.J. Szymczak, S.J. Grabowski, S. Roszak, J. Leszczynski, Chem. Phys. Lett., 393, 81, 2004.
• “Nature of X-H^+δ···-δH-Y Dihydrogen Bonds and X-H···σ Interactions,” S.J. Grabowski, W.A. Sokalski, J. Leszczynski, J. Phys. Chem. A, 108, 5823, 2004.

On-going Research Support