Alston J. Misquitta

Dr. Alston J. Misquitta is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, affiliated with the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences and the Centre for Experimental and Applied Physics. His research focuses on intermolecular interactions, electronic structure methods, and computational chemistry. He leads projects in symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT(DFT)), distributed molecular properties (e.g., ISA-DMA multipoles), and CamCASP software development. Current grants include EPSRC funding for machine learning-enhanced molecular potential models and Royal Society support for soot formation studies. He collaborates with institutions like Sorbonne, Cambridge, and UCL, and has supervised multiple PhD students exploring quantum nanodots, energetic materials, and excited-state molecular crystals. His teaching includes courses on Electronic Structure Methods and Mathematical Techniques. Recent work includes novel pyridine crystal forms and contributions to PHYMOL, an MSCA-funded doctoral network on intermolecular interactions.

Research Interests: Intermolecular interactions, distributed molecular properties (multipoles/polarizabilities), SAPT(DFT), CamCASP software, crystal structure prediction, and soot formation mechanisms. Key achievements include developing SAPT(DFT) and WSM methods, and advancing models for anisotropic interactions in organic crystals and nanomaterials.

Grants: £265k EPSRC grant (2023-2027) for machine learning in molecular potentials, and Royal Society funding for soot nucleation studies (2019-2024).

Students: Amir Sidat (excited-state crystals), Lei Tan (nanoclusters), Alex Aina (energetic materials), Tong Liu (functionalized fullerenes), and others.