Summary
Brian earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Northwestern University, where he studied the structure-dynamics-function relationships of organic photovoltaic materials. During this time, he was also a graduate fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. Then he became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago, where he studied the electronic-nuclear interactions that lead to electronic decoherence in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes. Subsequently, he became a staff scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, where he studied the functional characteristics of DNA-scaffolded molecular networks, such as their energy-transport dynamics and dissipation of quantum information. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Research interests
Through precise electronic and structural control, many biological molecular networks have overcome the inherent disadvantages of organic materials to perform feats such as highly efficient energy transport, the sequestration of charged intermediates, photoprotection, and choreographed step-wise electronic mechanisms. Inspired by these systems, Brian’s research focuses on optimizing optoelectronic materials for particular technological functions using biology’s strategies. His approach blends advanced optical spectroscopies such as 2D electronic spectroscopy, computational modeling, machine-learning algorithms, and materials science approaches such as DNA nanotechnology. He is especially interested in understanding and optimizing the interaction between the electronic system and its chemical environment, in order to enhance the materials’ coherent, quantum-mechanical processes. These enhancements could lead to improved performance or entirely new functions in technologies related to sensing, photovoltaics, transistors, light-emitters, communications, and quantum information.
Education
- Ph.D. in Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2013
- B.S. in Chemistry, University of Washington, 2007
- B.A. in English, University of Washington, 2007
Selected publications
- Rolczynski, B. S.; Diaz, S. A.; Goldman, E. R.; Medintz, I. L.; Melinger, J. S. Investigating the Dissipation of Heat and Quantum Information from DNA-Scaffolded Chromophore Networks. J. Chem. Phys. 2024, 160, 034105.
- Rolczynski, B. S.; Diaz, S. A.; Kim, Y. C.; Mathur, D.; Klein, W. P.; Medintz, I. L.; Melinger,J. S. Determining Interchromophore Effects for Energy Transport in Molecular Networks Using Machine-Learning Algorithms. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2023, 25, 3651.
- Rolczynski, B. S.; Diaz, S. A.; Kim, Y. C.; Medintz, I. L.; Cunningham, P. D.; Melinger, J. S. Understanding Disorder, Vibronic Structure and Delocalization in Electronically Coupled Dimers on DNA Duplexes. J. Phys. Chem. A 2021, 125(44), 9632.
- Rolczynski, B. S.; Yeh, S.-H.; Navotnaya, P.; Lloyd, L. T.; Ginzburg, A. R.; Zheng, H.; Allodi, M. A.; Otto, J. P.; Ashraf, K.; Gardiner, A. T.; Cogdell, R. J.; Kais, S.; Engel, G. S. Time-domain Line-shape Analysis from 2D Spectroscopy to Precisely Determine Hamiltonian Parameters for a Photosynthetic Complex. J. Phys. Chem. B 2021, 125(11), 2812.
- Rolczynski, B. S.; Zheng, H.; Singh, V. P.; Navotnaya, P.; Ginzburg, A. R.; Caram, J. R.; Ashraf, K.; Gardiner, A. T.; Yeh, S.-H.; Kais, S.; Cogdell, R. J.; Engel, G. S. Correlated Protein Environments Drive Quantum Coherence Lifetimes in Photosynthetic Pigment-Protein Complexes. Chem 2018, 4, 138.