F. Matthias Bickelhaupt
Full Professor, Head Division of Theoretical Chemistry
Matthias Bickelhaupt develops chemical theories and methods for rationally designing molecules, nano-structures, and materials as well as chemical processes toward these compounds, based on quantum mechanics and computer simulations. An essential part of these efforts is theory-driven experimentation, the application of our theories and models in cooperation with experimental groups.
His scientific activities comprise four main directions of research that are intimately connected and reinforce each other: 1) Structure and Chemical Bonding in Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory (DFT), 2) Molecular Recognition and Theoretical Biochemistry, 3) Elementary Chemical Reactions [see: Activation Strain model; PyFrag], and 4) Fragment-oriented Design of Catalysts. For a publication analysis, go to his ResearcherID and click on Citation Metrics.
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Curriculum Vitae
1983 - 1988: Chemistry study at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Major: Theoretical Chemistry
Minor: Organic Chemistry
Extra: Physical Chemistry
1988 - 1993: Ph.D. in Mass Spectrometry at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Promotor: Prof. Dr. N.M.M. Nibbering
Copromotor: Prof. Dr. E. J. Baerends
Thesis: "Base-Induced Elimination Reactions - An Experimental and Theoretical Study on Gas-Phase Reactions"
1993 - 1997: Postdoctoral positions in Theoretical Chemistry with:
1. Prof. Dr. P. von Ragué Schleyer, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
2. Prof. Dr. T. Ziegler, University of Calgary, Canada
3. Prof. Dr. R. Hoffmann, Cornell University, USA
4. Prof. Dr. E. J. Baerends, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1997 - 1999: Assistant Professor at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
1999 - 2003: Tenured Assistant Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2003 - 2008: Associate Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2009 - present: Full Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2012 - present: Extraordinary Professor at Radboud University, The Netherlands
2014 - present: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
2014 - present: Member Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities
2019 - present: Head Department of Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences, VU Amsterdam, NL
2020 - present: Chemistry Europe Fellow
2022 - present: Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
2023 - present: Member of Merit, Royal Netherlands Chemistry Society (KNCV)
2023 - present: Director Graduate School Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences, VU Amsterdam, NL
Organization
> Head, Department of Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences - since Feb 2019
> Head, Division of Theoretical Chemistry - since 2010
> Chairman of the Board, Holland Research School of Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC) - since 2010
> Member, NWO Table Chemistry
> Editorial Board member, Chemistry - An Asian Journal (VCH and ChemPubSoc Europe)
> Editorial Board member, Chemistry - A European Journal (VCH and ChemPubSoc Europe)
> Editorial Board member, ChemistryOpen (VCH and ChemPubSoc Europe)
> Editorial Board member, Physcial Chemistry Chemical Physics (Royal Society of Chemistry)
> Editorial Board member, Journal of Computational Chemistry (Wiley)
> Chairman, Program Committee, BSc Scheikunde (undergraduate program) & MSc Chemistry (graduate program), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam & University of Amsterdam
> Member, Scientific Advisory Board - Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis (ICCC), University of Girona
> Member, Advisory Board - Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), Leiden University
> Membership of Chemical Societies: (1) KNCV (Netherlands), (2) GDCh (Germany), (3) ACS (USA), (4) IUPAC (international), (5) WATOC (international), (6) AGTC (Germany)
> Referee for Funding Agencies, i.a.: (1) NWO, Netherlands; (2) ERC, EU; (3) NSF, USA, (4) FWF, Austria; (5) RCN, Norway; (6) NSERC, Canada; (7) Petroleum Research Fund (PRF), USA; (8) U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), USA; (9) Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT); (10) The Croucher Foundation, Hong Kong, China; (11) Academy of Finland, Finland; (12) National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa; (13) New Eurasia Foundation (NEF) & Ministry of Education and Science, Russia; (14) Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO), Belgium. (15) Croatian Science Foundation (CSF); (16) Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF); (17) Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Germany; (18) Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering, Finland; (19) Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany.
> Referee for 100+ international scientific journals
Alliances
Industrial Collaborations
1. Scientific Computing and Modling NV (SCM), Amsterdam, Netherlands
2. Blum Scientific, München, Germany
3. SynAffix, Oss, Netherlands
4. Wacker Chemie AG, München, Germany
5. AkzoNobel, Netherlands
Academic Alliances
1999-2014: National Research School Combination - Catalysis (NRSC-C), Eindhoven
2000-present: Holland Research School of Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC), Amsterdam
2007-2012: International Research Training Group (IRTG) HRSMC-University of Münster, Germany
2008-present: Amsterdam Center for Multiscale Modeling (ACMM), Dutch node (with Lorentz Center) of European CECAM
2009-present: Netherlands Institute for Catalysis Research (NIOK)
2010-present: Amsterdam Institute of Molecules, Medicines, and Systems (AIMMS), VU University, Amsterdam
2016-present: Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC-CBBC)
Honors
1992: Shell PhD-student travel grant (Sanibel Symposium, USA)
1993-1996: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Postdoctoral Fellowship
1997-1999: DFG Habilitation Fellowship
1998: European Union TMR Visiting Scientist, Univ. Girona, Instit. Comput. Chem.
1998-2000: Fond der Chemischen Industrie (FCI) Fellowship A. Diefenbach (1 PhD + equipment & consumables)
2001-2006: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) Jonge Chemici award (1 PhD + equipment & consumables)
2000: DAAD (German Exchange Service) Visiting Scientist, Univ. Girona, Inst. Comput. Chem.
2002-2007: HPC-Europa (ca. 10 visitor grants)
2002-2008: NWO VICI award (2 PhD + 2 PD + large compute cluster + other equipment & consumables)
2004-2009: National Research School Combination - Catalysis (NRSC-C) research grant (1 PhD + 1 PD + equipment & consumables)
2004-2005: Generalitat de Catalunya (GdC) Fellowship for J. Poater (1 PD + equipment & consumables)
2006-2008: Marie Curie Fellowship (1 senior PD: J. Poater + equipment & consumables)
2007: Nominated Best Teacher Faculty of Sciences
2007-2012: IRTG HRSMC-Univ. Münster funded by DFG and NWO (3 shared PhD + equipment & consumables)
2009-2011: Ministry of Science and Education of Spain (MeC) Fellowship (1 PD: J. M. Ruíz)
2009-2015: NRSC-C research grant (1 PdD + 1 PD + equipment & consumables)
2009: Selected Teacher of the Amsterdam University College (AUC)
2009-2012: Industrial contract-research project with Wacker Chemie (1 PD + travel costs)
2009-2014: IRSES grant "CANIOC" (joint proposal Girona, Amsterdam, Guanajuato: network activities)
2010-2015: NWO Astrochemistry research grant (1 PhD + equipment & consumables)
2011: Nominated Best Teacher Faculty of Sciences
2011-2012: Basque Science Foundation Fellowship (1 PD: A. de Cozar + equipment & consumables)
2011-2015: NRSC-C research grant Bio-Solar Cells (1 PhD + equipment & consumables)
2012: NWO BAZIS (joint ACMM proposal: € 350,000 for parallel compute cluster)
2012: CNPq Visiting Professorship, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil (not accepted due to personal circumstances)
2012-2015: COST Action CM1005, Member (network activities)
2012-2016: COST Action CM1105, Member Management Committee (network activities)
2012-2019: NWO Graduate Program (joint HRSMC proposal: € 800,000 for 4 PhD + equipment & consumables)
2013-2019: NWO-Doctoral Grant for Teachers (1 PhD: Z. Boughlala + equipment & consumables)
2013: European Union Visiting Professorship, Center for Advanced Studies, Warsaw University of Technology
2013: EMBO Short-Term Fellowship (host PI for 1 PD: J. Poater)
2013-2015: Marie Curie (MC) Fellowship (1 senior PD: G. Paragi + equipment & consumables)
2013-2017: NWO Planetary and Exoplanetary Research Program (2 PD + equipment & consumables)
since 2014: Member Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities)
2014-2015: Centro Paulo Freire hosting grant (1 visiting professor: S. E. Galembeck)
2014: Marie Curie Fellowship (1 senior PD: G. Roos + equipment & consumables)
since 2014: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
2014-2018: China Scholarship Council (CSC) grant (1 PhD: X. Sun)
2015-2019: Shell-NWO/FOM Computational Science for Energy (CSER) grant; with Lammertsma (1 PhD: A. Narsaria + equipment & consumables)
2016-2018: DFG Postdoctoral Fellowship (host PI for 1 PD: J. Nitsch)
2016: HRSMC hosting grant; with Orru and Ruijter (1 visiting professor: J. Poater, 6 months)
2016-2017: China Scholarship Council (CSC) grant (1 PhD: Z. Liu)
2016-present: Member Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks (ARC-CBBC)
2017-2021: NWO Astrochemistry II research grant (with I. Swart: 1 PhD + equipment & consumables)
2017-2021: China Scholarship Council (CSC) grant (1 PhD: S. Yu)
2018: HRSMC hosting grant; with Orru and Ruijter (1 visiting professor: I. Fernandez, mid 2018)
2018-2022: National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa (with C. Esterhuysen: 1 PhD + consumables)
2019: HRSMC hosting grant (1 visiting professor: O. Jiménez-Halla)
2019-2023: ARC-CBBC research grant (Assistant Professor + PhD student)
2019-permanent: Ministry of Education and Science - Sectorplan Beta en Techniek (joint Dept. Chem. & Pharm. proposal)
2019-permanent: Ministry of Education and Science - Sectorplan Beta en Techniek - Additional Funding for Comput. Chem.
since 2020: Chemistry Europe Fellow