Prof. Hai Lin was named a Cottrell Scholar (class of 2006) in April 2015 by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCAS). The Cottrell Scholar program champions the very best early career teacher-scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy. Every year, in total about 15 scholars are selected from major research universities and primarily undergraduate institutions. Prof. Lin is one of the 50 faculties from primarily undergraduate institutions who have been named Cottrell Scholars. These 50 scholars represent approximately 3% of the faculty in primarily undergraduate institutions who have received the Cottrell College Science Award for in the last 25 years.
Prof. Lin joined the Chemistry Department as an Assistant Professor in 2005 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. He received the Cottrell College Science Award by Research Corporation in 2006. In 2010, he became the first faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to receive the prestige National Science Foundation CAREER Award. In 2013, he and Prof. Jefferson Knight received the Cottrell College Science Multi-Investigator Award by Research Corporation for Science Advancement. He was also one of the seven recipients of the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award of 2014 by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
Prof. Lin’s research in computational chemistry focuses on multiscale modeling and simulation algorithms for studying chemical and biological processes in complex environments. Utilizing the modern computational techniques, he and his group have investigated a wide range of problems in chemistry and biochemistry including enzymatic reactions, ion solvation and transport, membrane-protein associations, and structure-based drug design.