Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry magna cum laude, Institute of Chemistry, University of Potsdam, DE (2019); Advisor: Peter Saalfrank
M.Sc. in Physical Chemistry, University of Pisa, IT (2015); Advisor: Maurizio Persico
B.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Pisa, IT (2013); Advisor: Maurizio Persico
Professional Affiliations
Member of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE)
Member of the Italian Chemical Society (Physical and Didactics Divisions)
Member of the Italian Society of Statistical Physics (SIFS)
Member of the American Physical Society (APS)
Member of the American Chemical Society (ACS)
Areas of Interest
Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations
First-principles electronic structure methods
Theoretical vibrational spectroscopy
Surfaces, interfaces, and aqueous systems
Experience
2022-Present: Postdoctoral Researcher, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
2019-2021: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Chemistry, University of Zurich (CH)
2015-2019: Ph.D. Researcher in Theoretical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Potsdam (DE)
2015-2019: IMPRS Ph.D. Research Fellow, Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin (DE)
Awards
"Forschungskredit" Fellowship for Postdoc Researchers, University of Zurich, Switzerland (2020)
Ph.D. Scholarship by the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) on
"Functional Interfaces in Physics and Chemistry", Fritz-Haber Institute of the MPG, Berlin, Germany, 2015
Publications
Yanhua Yue, Giacomo Melani, Harald Kirsch, Alexander Paarmann, Peter Saalfrank, R. Kramer Campen, and Yujin Tong Structure and Reactivity of α‑Al2O3(0001) Surfaces: How Do Al−I and Gibbsite-like Terminations Interconvert? J. Phys. Chem. C, XXX, XXX (2022)
Giacomo Melani, Juan Pablo Guerrero-Felipe, Ana M. Valencia, Jannis Krumland, Caterina Cocchi, and Marcella Iannuzzi Donors, acceptors, and a bit of aromatics: electronic interactions of molecular adsorbates on hBN and MoS2 monolayers Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 24, 16671 (2022)
Giacomo Melani, Yuki Nagata, and Peter Saalfrank Vibrational energy relaxation of interfacial OH on a water-covered α-Al2O3(0001) surface: a non-equilibrium ab initio molecular dynamics study Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 23, 7714 (2021)
Giacomo Melani, Yuki Nagata, R. Kramer Campen, and Peter Saalfrank Vibrational spectra of dissociatively adsorbed D2O on Al-terminated α-Al2O3 (0001) surfaces from ab initio molecular dynamics J. Chem. Phys. 150, 244701 (2019)
Giacomo Melani, Yuki Nagata, Jonas Wirth, and Peter Saalfrank Vibrational spectroscopy of hydroxylated α-Al2O3(0001) surfaces with (and without) water: an ab initio molecular dynamics study J. Chem. Phys. 149, 014707 (2018)
Foudhil Bouakline, Ulf Lorenz, Giacomo Melani, Guennadi K. Paramonov, and Peter Saalfrank Isotopic effects in vibrational relaxation dynamics of H on a Si (100) surface J. Chem. Phys. 147, 144703 (2017)
