Frontiers in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Lecture

The Freedman research group's overarching theme is harnessing chemical intuition to approach fundamental challenges in physics. Within this framework, we are focused on three vital areas of contemporary physics: advancing quantum information science, probing magnetism, and creating new emergent materials. We pursue each of these directions through the lens of synthetic inorganic chemistry by asking what we can learn from the synthesis of new materials.

Results within all three areas will be presented, with a focus on creating new magnetic materials using diamond anvil cells as tiny, transparent synthetic vessels and harnessing synthetic chemistry to create and understand molecular qubits.

About the Speaker
Danna Freedman is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University. The Freedman laboratory's research focuses on applying inorganic chemistry to approach challenges in physics, with specific emphasis on quantum information science, magnetic materials, and emergent phenomena. Some notable research accomplishments of the Freedman lab include the observation of millisecond coherence times in molecular qubit candidates, and creating the first iron-bismuth bond in the solid-state. Danna began her scientific career performing undergraduate research in Prof. Hongkun Park's laboratory at Harvard University. She then moved to Prof. Jeffrey Long's lab at UC Berkeley for her graduate studies where she studied magnetic anisotropy in single- molecule magnets. She pursued solid-state research during her postdoc in Prof. Daniel Nocera's laboratory at MIT. There, Danna probed geometric spin frustration in kagomé lattices and quantum spin liquids. Danna started her independent position at Northwestern University in 2012.