Northern Illinois University
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Professor Wheeler teaches physical and general chemistry courses and mentors, future chemists, through the Wheeler Group Lab. His group’s research interests include molecular dynamics simulations to develop better electrolytes for Li-ion batteries and quantum Monte Carlo simulations to develop new radical polymerization and depolymerization catalysts.

He joined the faculty at Northern Illinois University after a 20-year career at the University of Oklahoma and serving as Department Chair at Duquesne University. At the University of Oklahoma, he received a Regents’ Award for Superior Research and was named a Presidential Professor in 2003. Professor Wheeler has been named a Chinese Famous Overseas Professor and received two service awards from the American Chemical Society. In 2010, he was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in recognition of his outstanding research and service to the profession.

Research Interests

Computer modeling of metalloenzyme structures, properties and reactions; simulating properties of electrolytes for battery applications; adapting signal and image processing algorithms to analyze molecular dynamics simulations.

Recent Publications

Huber, T.; Wheeler, R.A.; “Fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo shows promise for modeling reaction thermochemistry of hydrocarbon-based radicals”; J. Chem. Phys. 2024; Submitted.

Vernier, B.; Patel, D.; Wheeler, R.A.; “Disordered nanocrystallite structural model for the ionic liquid 1,3-dimethylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide”; Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2024; Submitted.

Wheeler, R.A.; Dalbey, Emily E.; “Structure factor lineshape model gives approximate nanoscale size of polar aggregates in the ionic liquid N-methyl-N-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluormethylsulfonyl)imide”; Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2021; 23, 9061-9064.

Featured on the cover as one of the best papers in this issue

Mackoy, T.; Kale, B.; Papka, M. E.; Wheeler, R.A.; “viewSq, a Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) module for calculating, analyzing, and visualizing X-ray and neutron structure factors from atomistic simulations”; Comput. Phys. Commun. 2021; 264, 107881-/1-11.

Corrigendum: Comput. Phys. Commun. 2022; 276, 108358-1/-11.

Mackoy, T.; Mauro, N.A.; Wheeler, R.A.; “Temperature dependence of static structure factor peak intensities for a pyrrolidinium-based ionic liquid”; J. Phys. Chem. B 2019, 123, 1672-1678.

Cooper, E.; Shaik, S.; Bautista, D.; Ahmed, A.; Gaetano, C.; Hockman, M.; Kochanek, S.; Jagger, B.R.; Richards, S.; Schmucker, C.; Roeske, L.; Renk, E.; Daley, K.; Romeo, J.; Wilding, M.; Biernesser, A.; Noonan, S.; Matosziuk, L.; Wheeler, R.A.; Vaidyanathan, N.; Johnson, P.; Gawalt, E.S.; Evanseck, J.D.; “Evolution of an AwSOME Chapter”; ACS Symposium Series 2018, 1278 (“Building and maintaining award-winning ACS student member chapters”, Vol. 3); 55-71; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC.

Ralph Wheeler, Ph.D.
Professor
he/him/his
LaTourette Hall 418
rwheeler5@niu.edu

Education

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Houston
Ph.D., Cornell University
B.S., Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College

Professional Affiliations

Fellow, American Chemical Society
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science