Piotr Piecuch

Professor Piotr Piecuch received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wrocław, Poland, in 1983 and 1988, respectively. After postdoctoral and faculty appointments at the Institute of Chemistry of the University of Wrocław, where he was associated with the Division of Theoretical Chemistry and Chemical Physics headed by Professor Henryk Ratajczak, the Department of Applied Mathematics of the University of Waterloo, Canada, where he worked with Professors Josef Paldus and Jiří Čížek, the Department of Chemistry of the University of Arizona, United States, where he worked with Professor Ludwik Adamowicz, the Department of Chemistry of the University of Toronto, Canada, where he worked with the recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Professor John C. Polanyi, and the Department of Chemistry and Quantum Theory Project of the University of Florida, United States, where he worked with Professor Rodney J. Bartlett, he joined the faculty at Michigan State University in East Lansing, USA, in 1998. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2002 and Full Professor in 2004. In 2007, he was named a University Distinguished Professor and in 2020 he was awarded the title of MSU Research Foundation Professor. His main academic appointment at Michigan State University is in the Department of Chemistry, but he also holds an Adjunct Professorship in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. While at Michigan State University, he was named a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University, Japan, the University of Coimbra, Portugal, the Institute for Molecular Science in Okazaki, Japan, and Washington University in St. Louis, United States. His research, described in 238 scientific publications that on February 17th, 2025 have received more than 15,800 (Web of Science) or more than 18,000 (Google Scholar) citations and an h index of 68 or 73, has focused on theoretical and computational chemistry and physics, particularly on the development and applications of many-body methods for accurate quantum calculations for molecular systems and atomic nuclei, including methods based on the coupled-cluster theory, mathematical methods of chemistry and physics, and theory of intermolecular forces. He is a coauthor of the widely used GAMESS software (coupled-cluster, equation-of-motion coupled-cluster, and local correlation cluster-in-molecule options) and several open-source codes available on GitHub (CCT3 plugin to PSI4, CCpy, Miniccpy, and ccq). He also is a contributor of potential energy surfaces to the online library POTLIB. He is a recipient of numerous national and international awards and honors, including being elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science in Menton, France, in 2018 and being named Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2016, Distinguished Fellow of the Kosciuszko Foundation Collegium of Eminent Scientists in 2015, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011, Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2008, Invited Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 2005, Corresponding Member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Humanities in Paris, France, in 2003, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow in 2002. In addition to holding the highly honorific titles of University Distinguished Professor and MSU Research Foundation Professor at Michigan State University, he was named the Xingda Lecturer by Peking University (Beijing, China, 2019), the Lawrence J. Schaad Lecturer in Theoretical Chemistry by Vanderbilt University (2017), the Clark Way Harrison Distinguished Visiting Professor by Washington University in St. Louis (2016), and the S.R. Palit Memorial Lecturer by the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (Kolkata, India, 2007). He also is a recipient of the QSCP Promising Scientist Prize of Centre de Mécanique Ondulatoire Appliquée, France, for “Scientific and Human Endeavour and Achievement” (2004), the Wiley−International Journal of Quantum Chemistry Young Investigator Award (2000), three awards from the Polish Chemical Society for Research (1983, 1986, 1992), the award from the Minister of National Education of Poland (1989), and two awards from the Polish Academy of Sciences (1982). As of February 17th, 2025, he gave 308 invited talks in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Kingdom, and United States, including 162 invited lectures at national and international symposia, and co-edited 6 books and two special journal issues. He has organized or co-organized 11 regional, national, and international conferences and has served on many scientific committees, review panels, and editorial boards. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of Theoretical Chemistry Accounts. After joining the faculty at Michigan State University in 1998, he has worked with 16 postdoctoral associates and visiting or research professors and scholars, 22 doctoral students, and 6 research undergraduates, and has collaborated with more than 100 scientists from around the world.