CHEMG R6222

Basics of electronic structure theory - we mostly covered Hartree-Fock and full CI, with a gentle introduction to DFT, coupled cluster theory, and MP2

If you're interested in computational/theoretical work in chemistry, this class is great. If you're leaning towards experimental work, this class is probably overkill if you just want to run some basic calculations on the side.

I learned a decent amount. HW was good, wish the lecture was more digestible. Nothing less engaging than seeing a slide of words

In this course, I learned about computational methods in a summarized way, but I was able to gain a clearer perspective of what computational chemistry is and what its foundations are. I believe the textbook was helpful, but I think a different book that is a bit more explanatory should be used.

Fundamentals of quantum chemistry--in-depth processes of Hartree-Fock, DFT, basics on Slater determinant formulations, some details on MP2, CCSD, CI, AMOQIS

Many electron wavefunctions and operators, Hartre-Fock formulation, multiple different electronic methods (MP2, Coupled Cluster, CI, MC-SCF, AFQMC, DFT) but mostly an overview of what their strengths and weaknesses are in the context of quantum chemistry, and not really a theoretical/mathematical description of most of them.

I recommend changing the textbook used in the course, as it could be more explanatory and accessible. I also suggest focusing only on a few key computational chemistry methods—specifically the basic principles and the earliest ab initio methods. This would provide students with a clearer foundation before introducing more advanced techniques.

Assuming they have an interest in quantum chemistry.

Quantum taught with only slides, so the pacing is absolutely horrendous, which is a fatal flaw for any class hoping to teach quantum mechanics. The slides are also literally just screenshots from Szabo and Ostlund (the book used for the class), which is not inherently a bad thing, but Friesner doesn't really explain things that clearly when he limits himself to just using the equations on the slides and not writing almost anything on the board. Genuinely tried to write anything in my notes, but I gave up after a few minutes because slides go by so fast. Essentially, we went over chapters 2, 3 and part of 6 of Szabo and Ostlund's Modern Quantum Chemistry, then some other resources on DFT, but chapter 2 is where all of the quantum mechanics essentially is, and Friesner rushes trough it is ~2 weeks, which ended up leaving essentially everyone confused on all the topics that were explored for the remainder of the semester. I genuinely only learned things in this class by reading the book on my own time. Fundamentally, the scope of the class was just too large for the time it was allotted. The emphasis should have been on doing the fundamentals (ie. Chapter 2) over a longer period of time, and preferably not with only equations in the slides.