About Me

My name is Ryan Fortenberry, and I am a first year graduate student in the Chemistry Department here at Virginia Tech. My current research in the Crawford Group deals with Theoretical Interstellar Chemistry. I am developing Coupled Cluster ab initio programs on the PSI3 platform which predict the spectra for strange interstellar species. These can include radicals, various cations and anions, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polyenes, polyynes, cumulenes, and similar high energy species. Ultimately, I hope to use theory to predict the carriers of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIB's), which are, as of yet, completely unexplained. Additionally, this type of research has application to any sort of electronic spectroscopy for radical species. The current direction in which my research is headed uses the explanation of the DIB's as a starting point into this field, but there are many other pontential applications of this study.

I graduated high school from Hillcrest Christian School in Jackson, MS in 2003. I attended Mississippi College in Clinton, MS where I earned a Bachelor's in Mathematics in 2006 and a Master's in Communication in 2007. As an undergraduate, I did research in theoretical and computational chemistry with Dr. David Magers in the Computational Chemistry Group. I did a joint research project in the Mathematics and Chemistry departments which culminated in my undergraduate Honor's theis: Mathematical Foundations of Hilbert Spaces which Can Be Used in Quantum Mechanics and Enthalpies of Formation for ThioEthers by Homodesmotic Reactions. I also published a paper in the journal Macromolecules, "Characterization and Photopolymerization of Divinyl Fumarate" along with Dr. Magers and several researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi. My Master's thesis was an applied science/health communication study entitled The Influence Factor: A Comparative Study of AIDS Ambient Media Messages between Zambia and Botswana which examined the ways in which these two financially different but geographically close countries use media messages to educate the average African about HIV/AIDS prevention.

I am highly interested not only in the fields of theoretical chemistry, interstellar chemistry, and astrochemistry, but also in science writing, social studies of science, and public relations for science business. Some combination of these areas is where I hope to spend my professional career.

Away from school I enjoy being active by playing soccer, lifting weights, biking, hunting, fishing, and hiking on occaision. I also enjoy reading and writing (either about science or Africa), cooking, the night sky, and hearing myself talk. I am an avid traveler and have a large part of my heart taken by southern Africa. I have also traveled to forty of the fifty states, seen the Himalayas in Nepal, and been to India, England, the Netherlands (mainly just Schipol), and Kenya. I am always wanting to go back to Zambia, Botswana, or South Africa and would like to make first time journeys to Namibia, Lesotho, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Germany, and the Ukraine in just about that order. However, I am up for anywhere, as long as it is an adventure.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me. r410@vt.edu