About Me
Joseph James Radler
(Or “J.” to his friends.)
Scientific Interests
J. is currently a Teaching Associate for General Chemistry at the University of Washington in sunny Seattle, WA, having also studied there recently as a graduate research assistant. His research interests include, but are by no means limited to:
- Simulations of quantum dynamical processes
- Electronic structure theory
- Relativistic electronic structure methods
- Mixed quantum-classical dynamics methods
- Charge-Transfer phenomena in molecular systems
- Adiabatic-to-Diabatic transformations
- Time-resolved spectroscopies
- Graphical representations of quantum chemical phenomena
A (Very Abbreviated) Biography
J. grew up in various apartments in the North and Northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Despite being highly mobile, it was a home full of books, music, films, and art supplies. Taking to the arts, literature, and science all at once with gusto at a very young age, he wanted to be everything from a physician to an astronaut; a painter to a professional guitarist; a quiet literary mind and a rockstar.
Strangely enough, after self-studying foreign languages as well as various techniques with many different artistic media in high school, he fell in love with chemistry and physics thanks to an excellent team of teachers at Buffalo Grove High School in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Mr. Ken Indeck taught him that he had a knack for geometry and made it enjoyable, priming J.’s mind for later endeavors. Mr. Al Kane taught him that he – yes, the weird art kid – could do physics, and that he wasn’t just teaching the coffee pot at the back of the room. Then, Mr. Jim Behymer taught him how truly enjoyable mastering matter could be in AP Chemistry. Everyone else thought he was going to go to art school…
J. then applied to a number of universities for chemistry, eventually attending Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana for a dual-major track in Chemistry and Materials Science Engineering.
Things got rough once he got there, however. He was kicked out of Purdue twice for academic deficiency in a three year span, primarily due to deficiencies in mathematics and computer programming courses. Eventually, he found a highly visual/spatial learning style and used sketches, colors, and detailed drawings in his studies of multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and even C programming – succeeding at these subjects at last while studying during the summer months at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.
His confidence in mathematics restored, he completed an Associate’s Degree of Applied Science in Chemical Technology at Ivy Tech Community College of Lafayette, Indiana. Upon acceptance for reentry to Purdue University, J. spent the next two years studying inorganic, physical, and computational chemistries. He self-studied much of the advanced mathematics required for quantum mechanics and became enamored with quantum computational chemistry.
Upon graduating with his Bachelor’s of Science, J. worked as a laboratory technician and manager at the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory (PRIME Lab) for three years – dissolving rocks, testing water, optimizing processing techniques, and fixing laboratory equipment. During this time, he pursued non-degree courses in advanced inorganic chemistry, computational science, and physics, subsequently applying to graduate school after graduate school. Finally, upon striking up a delightful correspondence with Prof. Xiaosong Li at the University of Washington, J. applied and was accepted to pursue a PhD. in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry with Prof. Li’s research group in the Department of Chemistry.
Once there in his role as a Research Assistant, he began sharpening his skills with high-performance computing, scripting, job automation, data parsing, time-frequency analyses, data visualization, scientific visualization, quantum chemistry, and even more applied mathematics. As a member of Prof. Li’s Group he completed his Master’s of Science, authored a publication, co-authored another, and presented four original research posters at various conferences and symposia. He also met a number of very good, dear friends along the way!
First as a Teaching Assistant, then later as a full-time Teaching Associate at the University of Washington, J. has also had the privilege of teaching and tutoring hundreds of General Chemistry students concepts ranging from quantum mechanics and chemical thermodynamics through various learning and visualization techniques as well as (the ever important) laboratory safety culture.
At the moment, he is intently studying various programming languages, development frameworks, and technologies for building the software tools he has been dreaming of. The eventual goal is to pursue work in the data science or software development industries.
Stay tuned on the Blog for more adventures in computational and theoretical chemistry!
Other Scientific Interests
J. also has a deep interest in making the strange structures of quantum mechanics more accessible for everyone and devotes a great deal of thought to various representations of quantum phenomena. He also is very curious about everything having to do with quantum mechanics, quantum information theory, mathematics, as well as computer hardware and software. Some of his recent side-projects have explored:
- Disability resources and tools for dyslexic and dyscalculic people pursuing and working in STEM research roles
- Fun templates in \LaTeX
- Various programming languages
- Mathematical pedagogy
- Topology
- Abstract Algebras
- Geometric Algebras
- Graph Theory
- Braid and Knot Theories
- Quantum computing
- Novel visualization techniques for quantum dynamical processes
- and various combinations of these subjects!
Other General Interests
J. has a number of other interests outside of scientific research. He enjoys acrylic, oil, and watercolor painting, drawing, and various other two-dimensional forms of visual art. Lately he has been taking an interest in “urban sketching” with fountain pens and ink washes. He plays the guitar, the piano, and sings (when no one else can hear him, though…)
Being a bit of a coffee-snob – and living in Seattle – he has been recently experimenting with various coffee extraction techniques. He also very much enjoys studying and experiencing the chemistries of various wines, aromatic compounds in beers, and distillation of liquors. The chemistry of cooking and baking is another recent interest (are we noticing a theme?)
J. also really enjoys wrenching on machines, and has a passion for German automobiles. However, having been a graduate student and not being made of money – that means Volkswagens! Although he enjoys hacking and modding all sorts of machines (computers, cars, motorcycles, household appliances…)
Finally, as alluded to previously, J. speaks several languages with varying degrees of fluency and literacy. He speaks, reads, and writes Japanese more-or-less fluently, and has had experience teaching complex subjects like advanced electronic structure theory completely in Japanese.
He also speaks Russian haltingly, but can read Cyrillic just fine, thank you! Other languages he has been studying recently and with which he has had some success in conversations include: French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin. He also has a very basic grasp on Korean, Hungarian, Swedish, Welsh, and Luxembourgish (yes, it’s a real language!).
He currently lives in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle in a delightful 4-story walkup with his wife and fuzzball cats. He is currently trying to keep one of the little furry bastards from inputting the self-destruct code on his MacBook at this very instant…
