Keynote Speaker Bio
Angela K. Wilson is the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Michigan State University, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the MSU College of Natural Sciences and Director of the MSU Center for Quantum Computing, Science, and Engineering.
Angela earned a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in chemistry from Eastern Washington University. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in theoretical physical chemistry.
In 2000, she joined the faculty at the University of North Texas where she became a Regents Professor and the Associate Vice Provost for Faculty and head of UNT’s Office of Faculty Success. She was also the founder and Director of the Center for Advanced Scientific Computing and Modeling.
Angela was the 2022 President of the American Chemical Society. She has served as the Division Director (head) of the Division of Chemistry at the U.S. National Science Foundation where she was responsible for nearly $1B investments in chemistry nationwide, and led the strategic direction and national priorities in chemistry for NSF. Her honors include Fellow of the American Chemical Society, Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Distinguished Woman in Chemistry Award, 2023 Iota Sigma Pi National Honorary Member, and the 2023 AWIS Zenith Award. In 2018, she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. She is a National Associate of the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
She is on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Physical Chemistry and Cell Reports Physical Chemistry, the editorial board of Scientific Reports, and on the board of Chemical & Engineering News. She has served as President of the Division of Physical and Biophysical Chemistry of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), Chair of the Chemistry Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and as Editor for Computational and Theoretical Chemistry. She has served as editor of six books including “Pioneers of Quantum Chemistry”. She is Vice President of the non-profit QuSTEAM, and serves on the advisory board of EeroQ, a quantum computer hardware company. Angela’s physical (computational and theoretical) chemistry research spans quantum mechanical and quantum dynamical method development, transition metal and heavy element chemistry, drug discovery, environmental chemistry, catalysis, thermodynamics, and sustainability. Her computational chemistry methodologies are utilized worldwide. She has published ~200 papers and has mentored ~200 students in her research group.