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Omar Valsson

Title: Assistant Professor

Department: Chemistry

College: College of Science

Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae Link

Education

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

Current Scheduled Teaching

CHEM 6950.772Doctoral DissertationSpring 2026
CHEM 3996.772Honors College Mentored Research ExperienceSpring 2026
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchSpring 2026
CHEM 4930.004Selected Topics in ChemistrySpring 2026
CHEM 5610.001Selected Topics in Physical ChemistrySpring 2026
Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.

Previous Scheduled Teaching

CHEM 5660.001Computational Chemistry and BiochemistryFall 2025 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 6950.772Doctoral DissertationFall 2025
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchFall 2025
CHEM 4660.001Introduction to Computational ChemistryFall 2025 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 6010.769Seminar for Doctoral CandidatesFall 2025
CHEM 5210.001Advanced Physical ChemistrySpring 2025 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 6950.772Doctoral DissertationSpring 2025
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchSpring 2025
CHEM 4900.729Special ProblemsSpring 2025
CHEM 5660.001Computational Chemistry and BiochemistryFall 2024 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 6950.772Doctoral DissertationFall 2024
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchFall 2024
CHEM 4660.001Introduction to Computational ChemistryFall 2024 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 6950.772Doctoral DissertationSpring 2024
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchSpring 2024
CHEM 3520.001Physical Chemistry IISpring 2024 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 3520.211Physical Chemistry IISpring 2024 Syllabus
CHEM 5660.001Computational Chemistry and BiochemistryFall 2023 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 6950.772Doctoral DissertationFall 2023
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchFall 2023
CHEM 4660.001Introduction to Computational ChemistryFall 2023 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchSpring 2023
CHEM 3520.001Physical Chemistry IISpring 2023 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 3520.211Physical Chemistry IISpring 2023
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchFall 2022
CHEM 6940.772Individual ResearchSpring 2022
CHEM 3520.001Physical ChemistrySpring 2022 Syllabus SPOT
CHEM 3520.211Physical ChemistrySpring 2022 Syllabus
Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.

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

Contracts, Grants and 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).
  • Esmailie, F. (Principal), Valsson, O. (Principal), "A Multiscale Multiphysics In-Silico Model of Photobiomodulation therapy for hearing preservation," sponsored by University of North Texas, University of North Texas, $10000 Funded. (2024 - 2025).
  • 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).
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Overall
Summative Rating		 Challenge and
Engagement Index		 Response Rate

out of 5
out of 7		 %
of
students responded
  • Overall Summative Rating (median):
    This rating represents the combined responses of students to the four global summative items and is presented to provide an overall index of the class’s quality. Overall summative statements include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 5 = Excellent, 3 = Good, and 1= Very poor):
    • The course as a whole was
    • The course content was
    • The instructor’s contribution to the course was
    • The instructor’s effectiveness in teaching the subject matter was
  • Challenge and Engagement Index:
    This rating combines student responses to several SPOT items relating to how academically challenging students found the course to be and how engaged they were. Challenge and Engagement Index items include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 7 = Much higher, 4 = Average, and 1 = Much lower):
    • Do you expect your grade in this course to be
    • The intellectual challenge presented was
    • The amount of effort you put into this course was
    • The amount of effort to succeed in this course was
    • Your involvement in course (doing assignments, attending classes, etc.) was
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