spends her days gazing within the tiny building blocks of life that many of us take for granted every day: atoms, proteins, and subatomic particles, like electrons.
The BU College of Arts & Sciences professor of chemistry and the members of her computational chemistry lab at Boston University look to answer questions such as, can an electron be transferred from one part of the molecule to the other? And if so, how? Bravaya and her team use computer simulations to map out the underlying principles that govern the movement and transfer of electrons from one molecule to the next.
In recognition of her achievements, Bravaya has been named a 2020 Sloan Research Fellow. She is one of 126 early-career researchers chosen within the United States. Altogether, the fellows span the fields of chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics. The winners each receive a two-year, $75,000 fellowship to advance their research.
When Bravaya is not in her lab, she can likely be found hiking one of the many trails in New Hampshire's White Mountains. The Brink recently caught up with Bravaya to find out more about what she hopes to accomplish with the support of her new Sloan Research Fellowship.
