Boldyrev’s metal research solid as steel
Utah State University associate professor Alexander Boldyrev boasted a top three placement in a national judging of chemistry research on atom bonding.
Boldyrev’s work dealt with aromaticity which, according to chemistry graduate student Anastassia Alexandrova, is an “explanation of chemical bonding in metals.” Alexandrova is a student from Russia who works with Boldyrev in the chemistry department.
Alexandrova said the research is important because it may have an effect on energy storage and oxygen storage, which could one day help to fix the hole in the ozone layer.
“It’s very interesting,” Alexandrova said. “[Boldyrev] is so enthusiastic about everything he’s doing.”
Alexandrova said Boldyrev became somewhat famous because of his research. He has been invited to speak at several conferences, and has been written about in some of the most well-known scientific magazines. Science Magazine and Chemical Engineering News have both featured articles about Boldyrev and his work.
Alexandrova said she has learned a lot from working with Boldyrev.
“He explains complicated things in an easy way,” Alexandrova said.
Ben Elliott, a graduate student who has been working closely with Boldyrev, said Boldyrev is very dedicated to his work and has “a very intense nature,” and that he is “very devoted to his research.”
In order for Boldyrev to keep up with his workload, Elliott said, Boldyrev will work weekends and every day to get his research done.
Elliott said he has learned a lot from Boldyrev about reading and putting together work, interpreting data, and what certain calculated numbers actually mean.
Elliott summed up Boldyrev’s work in chemistry as, “creating an overall understanding of chemical bonding in molecules.”
Boldyrev is from Siberia and is in his fifth year at USU. Boldyrev has also taught at the University of Utah and in Germany. He has been working on aromaticity jointly with a Washington State University professor.
-scottsj@cc.usu.edu