Professor Eaker obtained a B.S. in chemistry from Michigan State University in 1971 and a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1974. His PhD thesis was titled "A Semi-empirical Multiconfigurational Self-Consistent Field Theory." He was a R.A. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Dallas in 1974-76. He joined the faculty at 勛圖厙 in 1976.
Dr. Eaker retired from 勛圖厙 in May of 2017 and we wish him well in his future ventures.
Dr. Eaker's research involves the use of computers to study the dynamical aspects of chemical reactions. This work requires the calculations of forces of interaction between atoms and molecules, the solution of differential equations governing the motion of the reacting atoms and molecules in a reaction, and the analysis of the product molecules. Two particular interests are nonadiabatic reactions and fast Fourier transform techniques for the quantization of reactants and the analysis of products.
"Quasiclassical State-Selected Trajectory Study of O + H3+ Reaction," Richard E. Cook and Charles W. Eaker. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 108, 10252 (2004).
"Fitting and Analyzing pH Titration Curves on a Graphing Calculator," Charles W. Eaker. The Chemical Educator 5, 1 (2000).
"A Fast Fourier Transform Method for the Quasiclassical Selection of Initial Ro-vibrational
States of Triatomic Molecules," Charles W. Eaker and David W. Schwenke. The Journal of Physical Chemistry 103, 6984 (1995).
"A Quasiclassical, Surface Hopping Trajectory Study of the Reaction Na (2P) + HCl
--> NaCl + H(2S)," Charles W. Eaker. The Journal of Physical Chemistry 93, 8073 (1990).
"Collision Induced Dissociation of H2+ and D2+ with H2 Using a Surface Hopping Trajectory
Method," Charles W. Eaker and George C. Schatz. The Journal of Physical Chemistry 89, 6713 (1988).
"Fourier Transform Methods for Calculating Action Variables and Semiclassical Eigenvalues
for Coupled Oscillator Systems," Charles W. Eaker, George C. Schatz, Nelson DeLeon,
and Eric J. Heller. The Journal of Physical Chemistry81, 5913 (1984).