Winslow Professor of Chemistry George Shields was the principal investigator and Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Karl Kirschner and System Administrator and Research Support Specialist Steve Young were key personnel on a $100,000 grant funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant, titled "Acquisition of a linux cluster for the Molecular Education and Research Consortium in Undergraduate Computational Chemistry (MERCURY)" has been funded by the NSF's Division of Chemistry through the Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI). The research efforts of the entire consortium of eight liberal arts colleges were essential for the success of the NSF-MRI grant. The Linux Cluster will be built, maintained, and operated at Hamilton, and all MERCURY members will use it for computational research in atmospheric chemistry, materials science and physical chemistry, and biochemistry.
The fourth MERCURY consortium conference was held at Hamilton July 27-July 29. Highlights included the undergraduate poster session, keynote speakers, and mingling with students and faculty from other colleges and universities.
