Faculty Profile

Omar Valsson

Title
Assistant Professor
Department
Chemistry
College
College of Science

    

    

      


                          

            
Curriculum Vitae

            

              Click Here to View Faculty CV
            

          

        
                          

            
Education

            



  

  


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





          

        
                

          
Current Scheduled Teaching*


          
CHEM 6950.772, Doctoral Dissertation, Spring 2024 
CHEM 6940.772, Individual Research, Spring 2024 
CHEM 3520.001, Physical Chemistry II, Spring 2024 Syllabus
CHEM 3520.211, Physical Chemistry II, Spring 2024 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.
  

        

      

    

  


    

    

      


        


          


            
Previous Scheduled Teaching*


            
                    

                    CHEM 5660.001, Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry, Fall 2023 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    CHEM 6950.772, Doctoral Dissertation, Fall 2023 
                    

                    CHEM 6940.772, Individual Research, Fall 2023 
                    

                    CHEM 4660.001, Introduction to Computational Chemistry, Fall 2023 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    CHEM 6940.772, Individual Research, Spring 2023 
                    

                    CHEM 3520.001, Physical Chemistry II, Spring 2023 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    CHEM 3520.211, Physical Chemistry II, Spring 2023 
                    

                    CHEM 6940.772, Individual Research, Fall 2022 
                    

                    CHEM 6940.772, Individual Research, Spring 2022 
                    

                    CHEM 3520.001, Physical Chemistry, Spring 2022 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    CHEM 3520.211, Physical Chemistry, Spring 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 Publications



  

  
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



	
		
		
	  

	

	

  
    
	

	

	  

		

		   
Awarded Grants



  
  
  	  
          
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. (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 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. (January 16, 2023 – May 31, 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
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    • The instructor’s contribution to the course was
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    • The instructor’s effectiveness in teaching the subject matter was
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  • 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
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    • The intellectual challenge presented was
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    • The amount of effort you put into this course was
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    • The amount of effort to succeed in this course was
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    • Your involvement in course (doing assignments, attending classes, etc.) was
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