Jeremy Scher is a Computational Chemist in the Materials Science Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, specializing in the theoretical and computational investigation of materials aging and degradation, interfaces and thin films, actinide separations, and water chemistry and physics.

Jeremy began his LLNL career in 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher in the Reaction Dynamics Group. He has since taken on modeling roles with both the ReSorT-M (Reaction, Sorption, Transport, and Mechanics) and SPADE (Simulation Processing of Actinides and Developing Expertise) teams. In ReSorT-M, Jeremy applies molecular dynamics to study transport, strength, and mechanochemistry across a broad range of materials, including explosives, polymers, metals, and ceramics. His research has been featured in PLS Noteworthy News, highlighting his team's discoveries on humidity-driven atmospheric corrosion of aluminum. His work with SPADE centers on developing plutonium reprocessing models, using first-principles simulations to predict the thermochemical properties essential for process model development.

Ph.D. Theoretical Chemistry, Syracuse University, 2020

B.S. Chemistry, Binghamton University, 2012

For a full list, see: Google Scholar

Scher, J. A.; Foley, B. R.; Cockreham, C. B.; Murialdo, M. R.; Aubry, S.; Kroonblawd, M. P. Layers Can Be Deceiving: A Hopping Model for Small Molecule Diffusion in TATB Crystal. Propellants, Explos. Pyrotech. 2025, 50 (5), e70004.

Scher, J. A.; Foley, B. R.; Murialdo, M.; Hao, Y.; Heo, T. W.; Weitzner, S. E.; Aubry, S.; Kroonblawd, M. P. Predicted Fracture Tendency of Naturally Occurring Aluminum Surface Coatings under Tensile Loading. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2024, 16 (19), 25445–25461.

Scher, J. A.; Weitzner, S. E.; Hao, Y.; Heo, T. W.; Castonguay, S. T.; Aubry, S.; Carroll, S. A.; Kroonblawd, M. P. Model for Humidity-Mediated Diffusion on Aluminum Surfaces and Its Role in Accelerating Atmospheric Aluminum Corrosion. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2023, 15 (23), 28716–28730.

Scher, J. A.; Govind, N.; Chakraborty, A. Evidence of Skewness and Sub-Gaussian Character in Temperature-Dependent Distributions of One Million Electronic Excitation Energies in PbS Quantum Dots. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2020, 11 (3), 986–992.

Scher, J. A.; Bayne, M. G.; Srihari, A.; Nangia, S.; Chakraborty, A. Development of Effective Stochastic Potential Method Using Random Matrix Theory for Efficient Conformational Sampling of Semiconductor Nanoparticles at Non-Zero Temperatures. J. Chem. Phys. 2018, 149 (1), 014103.

Scher, J. A.; Elward, J. M.; Chakraborty, A. Shape Matters: Effect of 1D, 2D, and 3D Isovolumetric Quantum Confinement in Semiconductor Nanoparticles. J. Phys. Chem. C 2016, 120 (43), 24999–25009.

• PLS FY24 Winter Directorate Award for “published research on the role of air humidity on aluminum corrosion rates”. 2024.
• American Chemical Society Poster Award - Awarded at the 51st Midwest Theoretical Chemistry Conference (MWTCC) 2019.
• Syracuse University Graduate Teaching Fellowship Award. 2012.