Thomas Sommerfeld

President's Award for Excellence in Research

Interest in Science Clicked at an Early Age

Sommerfeld

 

In fourth grade, Thomas Sommerfeld, like most European students, faced a decision in his native Germany about his future direction: whether to take a college prep curriculum or take a more general, vocational commitment.

He elected to follow the more academically-oriented path -- what Europeans call the “gymnasium” – to continue his studies. It was a decision he would never regret.

“It seemed science just clicked for me at that age,” said Sommerfeld, associate professor of chemistry and winner of the 2017 President’s Award for Excellence in Research. “I enjoyed chemistry, computer science and math, largely because of the teachers I had.”

A graduate of the University of Heidelberg, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Perugia, Italy, and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. His research is focused on computational studies that look at how extra electrons in atoms cause a breaking of chemical bonds.

“I am a physical chemist specializing in computational and theoretical chemistry; that is, I do both,” he explained. “I use computational methods to study excess-electron systems, and I develop the computational tools needed for these studies.”

His research explores a very basic, fundamental level, involving more work at a computer than in a typical chemistry laboratory.  “When you work at the molecular level, it’s more abstract than mixing chemicals,” he said.  “As a theoretical chemist, I am looking at various models that can be visualized on a computer.

“Chemical bonds themselves are electrons shared between atoms and can be thought of as a type of glue holding the atoms in a molecule,” he explained. “That analogy only goes so far though, because a bond can be weakened by too little or too much glue.”

Sommerfeld’s research has practical applications, including in the area of radiation physics, where radiation uses electrons to induce bond breaking that destroys tumor cells in cancer patients. It is also seen in a process called the Birch Reduction, a method used in industry to clean up toxic dirt or spills of dry toxic material, the type of pollutants often found in dumps of hazardous materials.

He is considered an international pioneer for having introduced the method to compute the energies and lifetimes of anions, or atoms that carry extra electrons.

“Every researcher in this field knows his achievements and cites his original papers in their recent papers,” said Masahiro Ehara, professor at the Institute for Molecular Science in Japan, who has collaborated with Sommerfeld on research in Japan and at Southeastern. “All of their works have been established based on Sommerfeld’s pioneering works. He has clearly opened a new field of metastable states.”

“The fact that Dr. Sommerfeld is at the forefront of his discipline is evidenced by others in his field who are copying his methods,” said Gerard Blanchard, head of the Southeastern Department of Chemistry and Physics. “On three different occasions, Southeastern hosted international scientists who came to learn his methods.”

Since coming to Southeastern in 2006, Sommerfeld’s excellence in the field of theoretical quantum chemistry has been recognized with four research grants totaling more than $250,000, including grants from the American Chemical Society and the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Last year, he was awarded a $101,786 grant from the NSF to continue identifying reliable, cost-efficient methods of developing novel computer simulation models that characterize the electron emission from unstable molecules.

“This project allows me to introduce undergraduates to projects that are related to my research,” he said. “These projects can be addressed with standard quantum chemistry methods so that students learn research techniques step-by-step. It is a great opportunity that undergraduate chemistry students at other universities rarely experience.”

Sommerfeld is the author or co-author of 78 publications appearing in peer-reviewed journals, including eight publications with undergraduate students he mentored at Southeastern.

"Southeastern doesn’t offer a graduate program in chemistry, but I always have at least one undergraduate working with me,” he said. “I try to involve energized students in my work; it exposes them to skills in chemistry and gives them something impressive to put on their resumes. Several have been pre-med students, all of whom were successfully admitted to medical schools.”

Sommerfeld also reviews manuscripts for a number of high quality physical and theoretical chemistry journals, as well as grant applications for national and international granting agencies. He has been invited to make presentations at numerous national meetings, universities and institutes around the world.

“Dr. Sommerfeld’s research exceeds the ordinary standards of excellence,” said Blanchard. “His research brings national and international recognition to Southeastern and greatly benefits our students. He is truly a faculty member of extraordinary merit.”