Our team

We've assembled a team of talented developers with significant experience in the realm of computational chemistry.

David W.H. Swenson

Senior Software Scientist

dwhswenson

David received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011, and worked as a postdoc at the University of Amsterdam and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. Since 2014, he has been a principal developer for OpenPathSampling. When not coding, he is often creating culinary or cocktail concoctions.
Hannah Baumann

Scientific Software and Method Developer

hannahbaumann

Google Scholar

Hannah is a software developer with Open Free Energy and is hosted by Bayer AG as a visiting scientist. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine where her research focused on developing methods for binding free energy calculations. In her freetime, Hannah enjoys running along the Spree or hiking and camping in the mountains.
Irfan Alibay

Research Software Scientist

IAlibay

Google Scholar

Currently working in a post split between Open Free Energy and MDAnalysis, Irfan specialises in open source software development and using various molecular dynamics based methods (primarily alchemical) to probe Protein-Ligand interactions.
James Baggs Eastwood

Project Manager

jameseastwood

James is currently working in a position split between OpenFE and OpenFF. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from New York University, where he studied the conformations and dynamics of macrocycles and worked on design algorithms for synthetic foldamers. When not at his computer, James can be found playing or tinkering with electronic musical instruments, biking around Manhattan, or introducing a toddler to the wonders of the world.
Mike Henry

Software Scientist

mikemhenry

Google Scholar

Mike is a software scientist in the Chodera Lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. His time is split between Open Free Energy and maintaining and developing packages part of the OpenMM ecosystem--focusing on free energy methods and machine learning. Mike specializes in scientific developer operations and reproducible scientific workflows using container technology.
Richard Gowers

Lead Software Scientist

richardjgowers

Richard is the project lead of Open Free Energy. After originally graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Chemical Engineering, he has spent his time on a variety of molecular simulation and cheminformatics roles in various locations. He has contributed to various open source projects, most notably developing the MDAnalysis package since 2013. When not at his desk he is often found walking his dog in south London.
Benjamin Ries

Scientific Software Engineer / Post Doc, OpenFE & Boehringer Ingelheim

RiesBen

Google Scholar

Benjamin has a Post Doc position that is split between the Open Free Energy consortium and Boehringer Ingelheim in Biberach. He studied Biochemistry and Bioinformatics at the Eberhard-Karls University Tübingen and worked on free energy calculation methods during his PhD at ETH Zurich. Now he aims at a code development that facilitates easy and efficient use of FE methods for the future. During his leisure time, Benjamin hikes, bikes, or climbs mountains in his vicinity.
Bobbie

Good boy