ADDRESS Dr. Shahidul M. Islam 500 East 33rd St., Apt # 1703 Chicago, IL, 60616 USA Tel: 773-543-6842 (cell) Fax: 773-702-0439 E-mail: shahidul321@gmail.com, mislam1@uchicago.edu

I am a postdoctoral scholar in the group of Professor Benoit Roux in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago. I completed PhD in February 2008 under the supervision of Professor Raymond A. Poirier in the Department of Chemistry at the Memorial University, Canada, where my research focused on characterizing transition state structures, kinetics and thermodynamics of various chemical reactions using highly accurate quantum mechanical (QM) methods such as the ab initio and DFT. I continued my postdoctoral research at the Memorial University for next six months where I was involved in the computational study of fuel cell reactions such as the reduction of CO2 by transition metal complexes. I collaborated with Professor Peter Pickup's electroanalytical group. Then I successfully completed a two year and four month postdoctoral research in the group of Professor Pierre-Nicholas Roy at the University of Waterloo where my research focused on conformation and binding free energy of ligand-protein systems, which required a combination of molecular dynamics (MD), molecular mechanics (MM), semi-empirical, and QM methodologies. During this time, I have worked closely with experimentalists in the group of Professor. Todd Lowary at the University of Alberta's The Alberta Glycomics Centre. I successfully completed a Masters program (thesis) in physical chemistry at the University of Chittagong Bangladesh with 1st class standing and securing the 1st position in the class with record marks. I was awared numeruous awards and scholarships during my academic and research career.

My research interests include development and application of computational tools to study structure, kinetics and thermodynamcs of chemical and biochemical systems.

EDUCATION/TRAINING

PUBLICATIONS

1. Islam, S. M. and Roy, P. N. (2012). Performance of the SCC-DFTB model for the description of arabinofuranosides conformations: comparison to forcefields, high-level electronic structure methods, and experiment. J. Chem. Theory Comp., Manuscript ID ct-2011-00789w, In press.
2. Islam, S. M., Richards, M., Taha, H., Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. (2011). Conformational analysis of oligo-arabinofuranosides: overcoming torsional barriers with umbrella sampling. J. Chem. Theory Comp., 7 (9), pp 2989-3000
3. Islam, S. M. and Saleh, M. A. (2010). Thermodynamic activation parameters for viscous flow of dilute aqueous solutions of some diamines. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Liquids, 48, 156-170.
4. Westaway, K. C., Fang, Y., MacMillar, S., Matsson, O., Poirier, R. A. and Islam, S. M. (2008). Determining the transition-state structure for different SN2 reactions using experimental nucleophile carbon and secondary alpha-Deuteriu kinetic isotope effects and theory. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 112, 10264-10273
5. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. (2008). Addition Reaction of Adamantylideneadamantane with Br2 and 2Br2: A Computational Study. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 112, 152-159
6. Islam, S. M., Huelin, S. D., Dawe, M. and Poirier, R. A. (2008). A comparison of the standard and Binning-Curtiss 6-31G basis sets for 3rd row elements. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 4, 86-100
7. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. (2007). New insights into the bromination reaction for a series of alkenes - A computational study. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 111, 13218-13232
8. Westaway, K. C., Fang, Y., MacMillar, S., Matsson, O., Poirier, R. A. and Islam, S. M. (2007). A new insight into using chlorine leaving group and nucleophile carbon kinetic isotope effects to determine substituent effects on the structure of SN2 transition states. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 111, 8110-8120
9. Islam, S. M., Hollett, J. W. and Poirier, R. A. (2007). Computational study of the reactions of SiH3X (X = H, Cl, Br, I) with HCN. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 111, 526-540
10. Saleh, M. A., Ahmed M. S. and Islam, S. M. (2002). Viscosity and excess viscosity of dilute aqueous solutions of Ethylenediamine, Trimethylenediamine and N,N-Dimethyltrimethylenediamine. Physics & Chemistry of Liquids, 40: 477-490

PAPERS TO BE SUBMITTED

1. Islam, S. M., Castillo, R. Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. Binding affinity of oligoarabinofuranosides to protein, to be submitted soon.
2. Islam, S. M., Smith, R., Pickup, P. G. and Poirier, R. A. Carbon dioxide reduction by ruthenium benzothiazole complex: mechanistic studies by density functional theory calculations and experiment, to be submitted soon.
3. Islam, S. M.; Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. Furanoside conformation and flexibility: A computational study of arabinohexose bound to a protein, to be Submitted soon.
4. Islam, S. M.; and Roux, Benoit. Rotameric states of spin labelled cysteines attached to T4 Lysozyme using the restrained ensemble simulation, to be submitted soon.

SUCCESSFUL FUNDING/GRANTS

1. Islam, S. M. and Roy, P. N. Awarded: Sharcnet Round X Large Dedicated Resource in Canada (Project No.: 2295), CPU time assigned: 400000.00 hours and Storage space assigned: 2 TB, 2009
2. Islam, S. M. Theoretical tools for the investigation of protein carbohydrate interactions. Awarded: NSERC Visiting Fellowship (Pre-approved), CAN$87843 for 2 years, 2009
3. Islam, S. M. Applications of quantum mechanical computations to study hydrogen fuel cell electro-catalytic reactions. Awarded: NSERC Industrial Fellowship (IRDF) (pre-approved), value: CAN$60,000 for 2 years, 2008

ORAL PRESENTATIONS (Presenter in bold)

1. Islam, S. M. Modeling spin labeled T4L and KcsA constrained by EPR/DEER Distance distribution. Computational Modeling Core Mini-symposium, Chicago, IL, USA, May 2012.
2. Islam, S. M. Rotameric states of nitroxide spin labels attached to T4 lysozyme. Computational Modeling Core Workshop, Chicago, IL, USA, June 2011.
3. Islam, S. M. Taming the Free Energy Landscape: From Chemical Reactions to Biochemical Processes. Invited speaker at the Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, April, 2011.
4. Islam, S. M. Breaking Through the Wall of Tuberculosis: The Protein Binding Preference of Furanosides. Invited speaker at the Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, April, 2011.
5. Islam, S. M. Conformational and binding study of furanosides. Roux Research Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, March, 2011.
6. Islam, S. M.; Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. Simulation studies of arabinanase-ligand complexes: The challenge of oligofuranosides. 92nd Canadian Chemistry Conference, Hamilton, Ontario, June 2009
7. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. Can kinetic isotope effects be used to determine the substituent effect on the SN2 transition state structures?. Symposium of Chemical Physics (SCP2008), University of Waterloo, Ontario, November 2008
8. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. What is the correct 6-31G basis set for 3rd row elements. 8th Atlantic Theoretical Chemistry Symposium (ATCS), Cape Breton University, Sydney, NS, August 2008
9. Islam, S. M. Force fields for application in biomolecular simulation, Zymeworks Inc., Vancouver, BC, June 2008, Invited presentation
10. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. New insights into the bromination reaction for a series of alkenes in gas phase and in solution. 91st Canadian Chemistry Conference, Edmonton, AB, May 2008
11. Islam, S. M. Computational studies of reaction mechanisms and performance of theory. Memorial University, St. John's, NL, Seminar presentation, December 2007
12. Islam, S. M. Molecular dynamics theory and some applications in chemistry, Memorial University, St.John's, NL, Seminar Presentation, November 2007
13. Islam, S. M.; Westaway, K. C. and Poirier, R. A. Can kinetic isotope effects be used to determine transition state structures?. 7th ATCS, Conference presentation, Memorial University, August 2007
14. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. Ab initio study of the addition of bromine to a series of alkenes in CCl4, CH2Cl2, CH2Cl-CH2Cl, CH3OH solvents. 5th ATCS, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB, August 2005
15. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. Computational study of the addition of bromine to a series of alkenes in CCl4, Chemistry Colloquium, Memorial University, February 2005

POSTER PRESENTATIONS (Presenter in bold)

1. Islam, S. M.; and Roy, P. N. Conformational analysis of arabinofuranosises: Prediction of 3JH,H using umbrella sampling simulations and DFT-derived spin-spin coupling profiles, Symposium of Chemical Physics (SCP2010), University of Waterloo, Ontario, November 2010
2. Islam, S. M.; Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. Conformational studies of biologically relevant arabinofuranosies with DFTB/MD, 17th Canadian Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry, Edmonton, Alberta, July 25-30, 2010
3. Islam, S. M.; Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. Conformational studies of L-arabinohexaose in solution and in complex with enzyme, Arabinanase Arb43A, using the long molecular dynamics and umbrella sampling simulations, 10th Annual CERMM Symposium, Montreal, Quebec, April 30-May 2010
4. Islam, S. M.; Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. Conformational Study on a series of arabinofuranosides using long molecular dynamics and umbrella sampling simulations, Symposium of Chemical Physics (SCP2009), University of Waterloo, Ontario, November 2009
5. Islam, S. M.; Castillo, N.; Lowary, T. L. and Roy, P. N. Calculation of arabinanase-ligand binding free energy by computer simulation: the challenge of oligofuranosides, 7th Canadian Computational Chemistry Conference (CCCC7), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 2009
6. Islam, S. M.; Pickup, P. G. and Poirier, R. A. A computational study of CO2 reduction by a ruthenium benzothiazole complex, 91st Canadian Chemistry Conference, Edmonton, AB, May 2008
7. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. A comparison of the performance of the Standard 6-31G and the Binning-Curtiss basis sets for 3rd row elements, 16th Canadian Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry (CSTC), Memorial University, St.John's, NL, August 2007
8. Islam, S. M.; Westaway, K. C. and Poirier, R. A. A new insight into using secondary alpha-deuterium and alpha carbon kinetic isotope effects to determine substituent effects on the structure of SN2 transition states, 16th CSTC, Memorial University, NL, August 2007
9. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. New insights into the kinetics of the reaction of Ethene + Bromine - A computational study, 16th CSTC, Memorial University, August 2007
10. Islam, S. M.; Poirier, R. A. and Westaway, K. C. A theoretical and experimental study of chlorine leaving group and nucleophile carbon kinetic isotope effects to determine substituent effects on the structure of SN2 transition states, Isotopes in Biological and Chemical Sciences Gordon Research Conference, California, USA, February 2006
11. Islam, S. M. and Poirier, R. A. Ab initio study of the addition of bromine to a series of alkenes in the gas phase, Fourth Indo-US Workshop on Mathematical Chemistry, Pune, Maharashtra, India, January 2005

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

1. Guest Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, Memorial University (Winter, 2008)
2. Laboratory Demonstrator, Department of Chemistry, Memorial University (2004-2008)
3. Teaching and Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, Memorial University (2006-2007)

   Supervised four undergraduate students during their research project [Two of the students out of four went on to pursue doctoral studies: Margot Dawe (now Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alberta, Canada), Stephanie D. Huelin, Randy Royle, Luke Pike (Rhodes scholar; DPhil candidate in Medical Oncology at Oxford University, UK)]. One research paper was published from this supervision (Publication # 9)

4. Teaching Chemistry at different institutes in Bangladesh

Teaching Certificates:

*Graduate Program in Teaching (GPT), Instructional Development Office, Memorial University (01/2008 - 04/2008)
*Teaching Opportunities for Graduate Assistants (TOGA), Instructional Development Office, Memorial University (01/2006 - 12/2007)

AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

1. NSERC Visiting Fellowship, preapproaved (2009)
2. Fellow of School of Graduate Studies at Memorial University (2008)
3. Research excellence award from Graduate Student Union at Memorial University (2008)
4. NSERC Industrial Research and Development Fellowship, preapproaved (2008)
5. Atlantic Computational Excellence Network (ACE-net) Conference Travel Award, (2008)
6. Paper in top twenty most accessed articles in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, an ACS journal published (2008)
7. Memorial University School of Graduate Studies Fellowship (2004-2007)
8. Carl Storm Travel Fellowship to Attend Gordon Research Conference (2006)
9. Indo-USA Workshop on Math. Chemistry Travel Award (2005)
10. Commonwealth Fellowship UK (2002-2003)
11. Graduate Merit Scholarship at the University of Chittagong (1999-2001)
12. Chancellors Medal for academic accomplishment in B.Sc. (Hons.) (1999)
13. Undergraduate Merit Scholarship from Bangladesh Ministry of Education (1994-1998)

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.