William Karney

William Karney is a full-time Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of San Francisco (USF). Collaborating with Professor Claire Castro, his research focuses on computational studies of organic reaction mechanisms, particularly heavy-atom tunneling, Möbius topology in annulenes, and high-temperature rearrangements of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). His work has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation since 2006.

Research Areas:

• Physical organic chemistry
• Heavy-atom tunneling
• Hydrocarbon reaction mechanisms
• Möbius topological effects
• High-temperature PAH dynamics

Education

• PhD in Chemistry (Organic), University of California, Los Angeles (1994)
• BA in Chemistry, Haverford College (1986)

Notable Article Trends: His publications span computational analyses of annulene dynamics (1997–2020), tunneling in biosynthesis (2020), and Stone-Wales rearrangements (2015–2016). Sub-fields include Möbius aromaticity, quantum effects in reactions, and carbon-rich material transformations.

Student Mentorship: Karney has mentored over 40 undergraduate researchers since 1997, many of whom have pursued advanced degrees or careers in chemistry, pharmacy, and data science. Students frequently present at ACS meetings and publish in top journals.