Chemistry Professor Earns Humboldt Award

Dmitrii Makarov, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, has won a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.

Makarov, also a core faculty member in UT Austin's Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, studies computational and theoretical chemical physics, with current research topics ranging from quantum reaction rate theory to molecular biophysics. Much of his current research focuses on theoretical and computational studies of various aspects of single-molecule biophysics, including mechanical properties of proteins, the dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins, and analysis of single-molecule trajectories.

The Humboldt Research Award is given based on a researcher's body of work and includes a monetary gift, as well as the resources to work and collaborate with scientists in Germany. Makarov will work in the Department of Physics at the University of Göttingen, focusing on biophysics.

"This award gives me an opportunity to spend considerable time in Germany pursuing collaborations with colleagues there," Makarov said.

Professor Jennifer Brodbelt, chair of the Department of Chemistry, praised the foundation's choice of Makarov for the award.

"Dima's work is highly collaborative across many disciplines," she said. "We all have been inspired by his focus on developing advanced theoretical methods to synergize with experimental data to understand the dynamics of protein folding and conformational changes in molecular machines."