James Andrew McCammon (born 1947,

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

, US) is an American physical chemist known for his application of principles and methods from theoretical and

computational chemistry Computational chemistry is a branch of chemistry that uses computer simulations to assist in solving chemical problems. It uses methods of theoretical chemistry incorporated into computer programs to calculate the structures and properties of mol ...

to biological systems. A professor at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, McCammon's research focuses on the theoretical aspects of biomolecular and cellular activity. In 2011 he was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. Prof. McCammon co-authored ''Dynamics of Proteins and Nucleic Acids'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1987; ), an important contribution to

molecular mechanics Molecular mechanics uses classical mechanics to model molecular systems. The Born–Oppenheimer approximation is assumed valid and the potential energy of all systems is calculated as a function of the nuclear coordinates using Force field (chemi ...

and

molecular dynamics Molecular dynamics (MD) is a computer simulation method for analyzing the Motion (physics), physical movements of atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a fixed period of time, giving a view of the dynamics ( ...

, with Stephen Harvey, while the first published reports on molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics can be found as early as 1976, most likely even earlier.

Early life

McCammon attended

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

, graduating in 1969.

Contributions

"The Cray Research Information Technology Leadership Award for Breakthrough Computational Science, Dr. Andrew McCammon of the University of San Diego, for his pioneering use of supercomputing technology in analyzing chemical enzyme inhibitors to fight Alzheimers and other diseases." (Business Wire, June 6, 1995)

Awards

* Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences of the USA (2011) * American Chemical Society (ACS) National Award for ''Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research'' (2008) * Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006) * UCSD SPPS Associated Students Teaching Award (2003) * UC Chancellor's Associates Award for Research (2002) * Appointed Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2000–present) * Joseph E. Mayer Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, UC San Diego (1995-) * Smithsonian Award for Breakthrough Computational Science (1995) * Cray Research Information Technology Leadership Award (1995) * George Hitchings Award for Innovative Methods in Drug Design, Burroughs Wellcome Fund (1987–1992) * Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1982–87) * NIH Research Career Development Award (1980–85)

References

External links

HHMI profile of J. Andrew McCammon

The McCammon research group at UCSD
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCammon, J. Andrew 1947 births Living people American physical chemists University of California, San Diego faculty Pomona College alumni Harvard University alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American computational chemists Fellows of the American Physical Society