Adam Hughes - Profile

Like many young people today, my short career path has been

an exercise in discovering and pursuing my greatest strengths

and interests. After graduating from DePauw University

in 1994 with a degree in Chemistry and Math, I entered

the Ph. D. program in the Department of Chemistry at

Indiana University. As luck would have it, I didn't have

a specific research area of interest, so I chose an advisor

based on my love of science and math in general. This led

to four years spent writing high-performance computer code

to conduct simulations of chemical systems. As you might

imagine, this experience allowed me to get my fingers in

many aspects of scientific computing, and this quickly

became truly enjoyable work to me. When I finished up my

doctoral work in the fall of 1998, I took the position of

Director of Computational Chemistry at a large Department

of Defense research facility, a position which fits

perfectly with my scientific/professional interests and

experience.

My time outside of work is filled with a variety of activities,

including weightlifting, reading, hiking, fishing, playing pool,

and, when I get the chance, just kicking back a little bit. I

especially enjoy hanging out with my fiance, playing with our

dogs and planning our future (I'm 27, so these plans tend to

change day-to-day!). My new hometown of Dayton, OH, offers

a great combination of city conveniences and proximity to the

rural areas that I enjoy so much.

One last thing : Not surprisingly, I love the internet. In

fact, I spend a good deal of time at my job searching for

information that will help DoD researchers conduct more

meaningful experiments and simulations. The marriage of

internet technology and my appreciation of science and

math have fostered a genuine desire to gather the most useful

information possible and make it available to others who may

benefit from the knowledge. This is my purpose in these pages

... I hope you enjoy!