Dr. Anne Mccoy

Biography

Professor McCoy received her B.S. in Chemistry from Haverford College in 1987, returning to Connecticut to teach chemistry at Hotchkiss while pursuing her Ph.D. under Professor Edwin L. Sibert at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. McCoy’s Ph.D. work focused on using high order vibrational perturbation theory to study the vibrationally excited states of a variety of small molecules, including water. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1992, she took a postdoctoral position with Professor R. Benny Gerber, dividing her time between Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the University of California, Irvine. Her research group investigates interrelated areas that involve the development of theoretical and computational approaches that allow investigation of molecules and complexes undergoing large amplitude vibrational motions at low levels of excitation. These processes are important in a variety of contexts, including astrochemistry and atmospheric chemistry. She began her independent research program at Ohio State in 1994 and moved to the University of Washington in 2015. Over her career, she has received numerous accolades, including election as a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2007 and the American Chemical Society in 2009. She was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences in 2019 and is set to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2025. McCoy was also the recipient of the CAREER Award from the NSF and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher/Scholar Award, among other honors. She has served as a Senior Editor for the Journal of Physical Chemistry and as an officer for several professional societies.

Research Interests