This course has two main objectives.
I) To give you a thorough introduction to computational chemisty and
modern methods of electronic structure theory that form the basis of
molecular modeling today. Mainly, we will concentrate on quantum
mechanical methods and pay special attention to Density Functional
Theory. Instead of digging deep into the mathematics of quantum
chemistry, we will concentrate on practical aspects and examine in
detail how computational chemistry can be used to explain chemical
reactions and electronic properties.
II) To get your 'Hands Dirty' and conduct real and original research
designed to allow you to see the knowledge obrained from teh first
part of the course in action and apply a wide range of
state-of-the-art methods to solve a specific chemcial research
problem at a high level of scientific rigor.

Course Structure:
First, the theoretical background of molecular modeling, as well as
practical problems encountered in modern electronic structure
calculations will be reviewed. The goal in this part of the course is
to give you all the tools you need to get started working on real
problems of chemical research rather than trying to get you to a
point where you could develop your own electronic structure code. The
second focus is on modeling and analysis techniques taht are often
simple quantum mechanical tools with wide ranging applicational
implications. The third phase of the course highlights some of the
ongoing research efforts in the inorganic division of our department
from teh perspective of a computational chemist and analyzes there
problesm in terms of the concepts that we learned in teh first half
of the course. The lecture series concludes with an in depth
description of ~5 real research projects that were selected and 'pre-
researched' as to probe whether they are doable in the given time-
frame. These will be projects that have not been previously solved or
published and that will likely be immediately relevant for one of the
experimental groups in the IU-Chemistry department. In the second
part (after spring break), we will form teams of 2 students each and
work to solve the research problem.