Gustavo Arteca



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Gustavo Arteca

Full Professor

Chemistry and Biochemistry
Sciences and Engineering

705.675.1151 ext. 2117
S415, Science I building
Sudbury Campus

Dr. G. Arteca did his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the National University of La Plata, Argentina (UNLP, 1976-1985). He obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1985, working at the Institute for Applied and Theoretical Physical Chemistry (INIFTA-UNLP), under the direction of Profs. E.A. Castro and F.M. Fernández, and partly at the Balseiro Institute (Bariloche, Southern Argentina) with Prof. C. Solivérez, in various areas of Mathematical Physics and Quantum Mechanics. In 1986, he continued his post-doctoral studies at the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Canada) with Prof. P.G. Mezey, doing research in the fields of Quantum Chemistry, Chemical Topology, and Computational Molecular Design.  Between 1986-1992, Dr. Arteca worked as a Professional Research Associate and Sessional Lecturer at the Department of Physics and the Department of Chemistry (University of Saskatchewan), as well as lecturer at a NATO Summer School of Theoretical Chemistry (Portugal, 1990). Dr. Arteca joined the faculty at Laurentian University in August 1992, where he does research in the field of theoretical physical chemistry. His teaching responsabilities include graduate and undergradute courses in physical chemistry, both in French and English. He maintains research collaborations with Profs. C. Elvingson and O. Tapia, from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, where he spent the sabbatical year 1998/99, as well as the half-sabbatical leaves 2002/3, 2007, and 2011. Dr. Arteca is a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada (FCIC, 2002), having served as Vice-chairman (2000-2003) and Chairman (2003-2006) of the Physical/Theoretical Division. Dr. Arteca was awarded the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Biophysical Computational Chemistry (2001/08) and worked at the Grant Selection Committee 26 (Physical/Analytical Chemistry) of NSERC (2006/08)). Dr. Arteca is fully fluent in various languages, including English, French, Spanish, Catalan, and Swedish.

Education
  • PhD in Physical/Theoretical Chemistry (National University of La Plata [UNLP], La Plata, Argentina)
Research Focus

My NSERC-funded research focuses on various areas of theoretical and computational chemistry, including fundamental quantum mechanics for chemical reactions, and statistical mechanics of chain molecules. In the case of simple systems, my work includes: (1) mathematical physics of strongly-perturbed chemical systems, (2) quantum topology of potential energy surfaces and electron densities, (3) molecular shape transitions along reaction paths, (4) quantum mechanics of electronic states coupled in external fields, and (5) convergence and analytical continuation of virial series near phase transitions. In the case of large systems, my work includes: (6) quantum theory of molecular similarity, (7) topology and differential geometry of polymer chains, (8) mathematical modeling and analysis of configurational transitions in diluted polymer solutions, (9) protein folding dynamics and size-scaling behaviour in protein native states, (10) statistical properties of protein primary sequences, and (11) modeling the dynamics of topologically constrained macromolecules, including the compressive behaviour of grafted polymers and transient polymer knotting.

Awards
  • Argentine Chemical Association Medal 1982
  • Laurentian University Research Excellence Award 1998
  • Noranda Award (CIC) 2002

SUDBURY CAMPUS
935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury ON P3E 2C6 — 1.800.461.4030
BARRIE CAMPUS
1 Georgian Drive, Barrie, ON L4M 3X9 — 705.728.1968 ext. 1946