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Omar Valsson

Assistant Professor

University of North Texas

Department of Chemistry

Email: Omar.Valsson@unt.edu

Education

  • PhD, University of Twente, 2012
    Major: Computational Chemical Physics
    Specialization: Physics
    Dissertation: Understanding visual absorption from first principles
  • MSc, University of Iceland, 2008
    Major: Physics
  • BS, University of Iceland, 2006
    Major: Physics

Professional Positions

    Professional

  • Assistant Professor, University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (2022 - Present).
  • Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research,. Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research,. (2017 - 2022).
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, ETH Zurich and USI Lugano. ETH Zurich and USI Lugano. (2012 - 2017).

Development Activities

  • Faculty Fellowship (Faculty Fellowship), UNT Washington DC Fellows Program, University of North Texas. United States of America. (October 2023).
  • Workshop, NSF Chemistry Early Career Investigator Workshop, National Science Foundation, Division of Chemistry. Alexandria,VA,United States of America. (May 2023).

Teaching

Teaching Experience

    University of North Texas

  • CHEM 3520 - Physical Chemistry II, 6 courses.
  • CHEM 4660 - Introduction to Computational Chemistry, 2 courses.
  • CHEM 4900 - Special Problems, 1 course.
  • CHEM 5210 - Advanced Physical Chemistry, 1 course.
  • CHEM 5660 - Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2 courses.
  • CHEM 6940 - Individual Research, 7 courses.
  • CHEM 6950 - Doctoral Dissertation, 3 courses.

Directed Student Learning

  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (February 1, 2024).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (January 17, 2024).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair, Chemistry. (December 1, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair, Chemistry. (October 1, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (September 19, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (August 21, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (August 1, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair, Chemistry. (April 1, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair, Chemistry. (April 1, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair, Chemistry. (April 1, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (January 27, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (December 22, 2022).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair, Chemistry. (September 1, 2022).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Chemistry. (May 13, 2022).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair, Chemistry. (January 16, 2022).
  • Dissertation Defense Committee Member, Chemistry. (August 1, 2023 - October 18, 2023).
  • Doctoral Advisory Committee Member, Physics. (March 28, 2022 - May 30, 2023).
  • Dissertation Defense Committee Member, Chemistry. (September 15, 2022 - December 14, 2022).
  • Dissertation Defense Committee Member, Chemistry. (September 23, 2022 - October 20, 2022).
  • Dissertation Defense Committee Member, Chemistry. (May 9, 2022 - June 29, 2022).
  • Dissertation Defense Committee Member, Chemistry. (February 10, 2022 - March 28, 2022).

Research

Published Intellectual Contributions

    Journal Article

  • Ghiringhelli, L., ..... (see full author list in publication), Valsson, O., Scheffler, M. (2023). Shared metadata for data-centric materials science. Scientific Data. 10 626. doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02501-8
  • Rydzewski, J., Chen, M., Valsson, O. (2023). Manifold Learning in Atomistic Simulations: A Conceptual Review. Machine Learning: Science and Technology. 4 031001. doi.org/10.1088/2632-2153/ace81a
  • Valsson, O. (2023). Molecular Simulation Strategies for Understanding the Degradation Mechanisms of Acrylic Polymers. Macromolecules. 56 3272-3285. doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.2c02442
  • Pampel, B., Holbach, S., Hartung , L., Valsson, O. (2023). Sampling Rare Event Energy Landscapes via Birth-Death Augmented Dynamics. Physical Review E. 107 024141. doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.107.024141
  • Henin, J., Lelievre, T., Shirts, M.R., Valsson, O., Delemotte, L. (2022). Enhanced Sampling Methods for Molecular Dynamics Simulations [Article v1.0]. Living Journal of Computational Molecular Science. 4 1583. doi.org/10.33011/livecoms.4.1.1583
  • Petersen, N., Girard, M., Riedinger, A., Valsson, O. (2022). The Crucial Role of Solvation Forces in the Steric Stabilization of Nanoplatelets. Nano Letters. 22, (24) 9847–9853. doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c02848
  • Rydzewski, J., Chen, M., Ghosh, T., Valsson, O. (2022). Reweighted Manifold Learning of Collective Variables from Enhanced Sampling Simulations. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. 18 7179–7192. doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00873
  • Pampel, B., Valsson, O. (2022). Improving the Efficiency of Variationally Enhanced Sampling with Wavelet-Based Bias Potentials. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. 18 4127-4141. doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00197
  • Iscen, A., Forero-Martinez, N.C., Valsson, O., Kremer, K. (2021). Acrylic Paints: An Atomistic View of Polymer Structure and Effects of Environmental Pollutants. Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 125 (38) 10854-10865. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c05188
  • Rydzewski, J., Valsson, O. (2021). Multiscale Reweighted Stochastic Embedding: Deep Learning of Collective Variables for Enhanced Sampling. Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 125 (28) 6286-6302. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.1c02869

    • Software Tutorial

  • Valsson, O. (2022). PLUMED Masterclass 22.11: Variationally enhanced sampling with PLUMED. https://www.plumed.org/doc-master/user-doc/html/masterclass-22-11.html

Presentations Given

    Invited Talk

  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), 2023 Condensed Phase and Interfacial Molecular Science (CPIMS) Principal Investigators' Research Meeting, The Molecular Building Block Sampling Approach for Polymorphic Free Energy Calculations, Department of Energy SC BES CPIMS, Rockville, MD, USA, United States of America. (2023).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Deep Modeling for Molecular Simulation 2023, Enhanced Sampling Methods for Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Chemistry in Solution and at Interfaces, University of Princeton, Princeton, United States of America. (2023).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Machine Learning and Chemistry: Are We There Yet?, Manifold Learning of Collective Variables for Enhanced Sampling Simulations, MolSSI, University of Maryland, College Park, United States of America. (2023).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), 3rd i-CoMSE Workshop: Methods for Advanced Sampling, Metadynamics, i-CoMSE (the Institute of Computational Molecular Science Education), Online, United States of America. (2023).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Rare Events: Analysis, Numerics, and Applications, Sampling Rare Event Energy Landscapes via a Birth-Death Process Augmented Langevin Dynamics, Brin Mathematics Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park, USA, United States of America. (2023).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Erice School: Exploring and Quantifying Rough Free Energy Landscapes, Sampling Rare Event Energy Landscapes via a Birth-Death Process Augmented Langevin Dynamics, Erice, Italy, Italy. (2022).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Recent Advances in Modelling Rare Events (RARE2021), Wavelet-Based Bias Potentials and Multiscale reweighted stochastic embedding, Online, India. (2021).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Bunsen-Tagung 2021 - Multi-Scale Modelling, Multiscale reweighted stochastic embedding: Deep learning of collective variables for enhanced sampling, Online, Germany. (2021).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Soft Matter Seminar, University of Amsterdam, Understanding Long Timescale Phenomena in Chemical and Soft Matter Systems with Variationally Enhanced Sampling, Online, Netherlands. (2021).

    • Lecture

  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Chem 5010 UNT - Research Presentation, Atomistic Simulations: Understanding Long Timescale Phenomena in Chemical and Soft Matter Systems with Novel Simulations Techniques, United States of America. (2023).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Chem 3010 UNT - Research Presentation, Biomolecular Simulations Understanding Long Timescale Phenomena in Chemical and Soft Matter Systems with Novel Simulations Techniques, United States of America. (2022).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), Chem 5010 UNT - Research Presentation, Biomolecular Simulations Understanding Long Timescale Phenomena in Chemical and Soft Matter Systems with Novel Simulations Techniques, United States of America. (2022).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), PLUMED Masterclass: Variationally Enhanced Sampling (VES) Module, Variationally Enhanced Sampling, Online, United States of America. (2022).

    • Oral Presentation

  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), The 10th International Conference on Multiscale Materials Modeling, New Developments of Variationally Enhanced Sampling, Baltimore, USA, United States of America. (2022).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting 2021, Kinetics of hydrocarbon disassociation via biased reactive molecular dynamics simulations, Online, United States of America. (2021).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting 2021, New Developments of Variationally Enhanced Sampling, Online, United States of America. (2021).
  • Valsson, O. (Author & Presenter), American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting 2021, Multiscale reweighted stochastic embedding: Deep learning of collective variables for enhanced sampling, Online, United States of America. (2021).

Media Contributions

    Newspaper

  • "Chemistry professor receives Early Career Award and grant money for research in molecular crystals," North Texas Daily. (September 11, 2023).

Contracts, Grants, Sponsored Research

    Grant - Research

  • Valsson, O. (Principal), "The Molecular Building Block Sampling Approach for Polymorphic Free Energy Calculations," sponsored by DOE Early Career, Federal, $875000 Funded. (2023 - 2028).
  • Valsson, O. (Principal), "Subaward from the NSF CAREER Grant of Oliverio Andrussi at Boise State University," sponsored by NSF - Subaward from Boise State, Federal, $42166 Funded. (2023 - 2023).

Service

University Service

  • Committee Member, Chemical Biology Assistant Professor Search Committee. (October 1, 2023 - Present).
  • Committee Member, Undergraduate Affairs Committee. (October 1, 2023 - Present).
  • Committee Member, Digital Public Relations Committee. (April 1, 2022 - Present).
  • Special Institutional Assignment, Departmental Photographer. (January 16, 2022 - Present).
  • Committee Chair, Administrator Evaluation Committee. (November 17, 2022 - May 1, 2023).
  • Committee Member, Computational Chemistry Assistant Professor Search Committee. (September 16, 2022 - February 15, 2023).

Public Service

  • Member, The PLUMED consortium. (2019 - Present).

Professional Service

  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. (2023 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of the American Chemical Society. (2023 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Machine Learning: Science and Technology. (2023 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Chemical Science. (2022 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. (2022 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Physical Chemistry A/B/C. (2022 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. (2022 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Nature Communications. (2022 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. (2022 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, RSC Advances. (2022 - Present).
  • Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, The Journal of Chemical Physics. (2022 - Present).
  • Other (Focus Session Organizer), APS March Meeting 2024. Minneapolis, (March 1, 2023 - March 8, 2024).
  • Reviewer, Grant Proposal, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund. (December 2023 - February 2024).
  • Reviewer, Grant Proposal, NSF DMR - Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT). (September 2023 - September 2023).
  • Reviewer, Grant Proposal, DOE SC BES CPIMS. (April 2023 - April 2023).
  • Reviewer, Grant Proposal, DOE SC BES CPIMS. (March 2023 - March 2023).
  • Other (Symposium co-organizer), 10th International Conference on Multiscale Materials Modeling. Baltimore, (January 1, 2022 - October 7, 2022).
  • Reviewer, Grant Proposal, NSF DMR - Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT). (May 2022 - May 2022).