Rate My Professor Jan Verlet

Verlet's research investigates chemical and physical changes in molecules upon interaction with photons and electrons. His key areas include quantum dynamics of isolated anions, photon-driven chemistry relevant to photoactive proteins, DNA, and atmospheric chemistry, electron-driven chemistry in biological electron transport chains and dense molecular clouds in the interstellar medium, and photochemistry at aqueous interfaces. His group has developed novel spectroscopic methods to observe electrons at the water/air interface, real-time electron-molecule reactions, electronic and nuclear dynamics along reaction coordinates, the role of non-valence states in anions, and solvation effects in electron capture. Influential publications include 'Spectroscopy and dynamics of the hydrated electron at the water/air interface' (Nature Communications, 2024), 'Photochemistry of the pyruvate anion produces CO2, CO, CH3-, CH3, and a low energy electron' (Nature Communications, 2022), 'Ultrafast dynamics of low-energy electron attachment via a non-valence correlation-bound state' (Nature Chemistry, 2018), 'Ultrafast above-threshold dynamics of the radical anion of a prototypical quinone electron-acceptor' (Nature Chemistry, 2013), and 'Low-energy Shape Resonances of a Nucleobase in Water' (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023). These contributions have advanced understanding of light- and electron-driven processes with applications in atmospheric science, biology, and astrophysics.