Aaron Kelly

Aaron Kelly is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, specializing in theoretical approaches to condensed-phase chemical processes and reaction dynamics.

His academic background includes:

• B.Sc. in Chemistry and Physics from Memorial University (2004)
• Ph.D. in Chemical Physics Theory from the University of Toronto (2010)
• Postdoctoral Fellow at Pohang University of Science and Technology (2011)
• Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University (2011 - Present)

Kelly's research centers on mechanistic details of chemical processes in condensed phases, with specific expertise in electron and proton transfer, photo-excited molecule relaxation, photosynthetic energy transfer, and interfacial catalytic reactions. He pioneers hybrid quantum-classical simulation methods to model electric field effects on reaction pathways, directly collaborating with Matthew Kanan's experimental group at Stanford to bridge theoretical predictions with synthetic applications. His work addresses fundamental challenges in quantum-mechanical solvation dynamics where exact solutions are intractable.