Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
I am a theoretical and computational chemist whose research has covered a wide range of areas including quantum dynamics, electronic structure, strongly correlated materials, and chemical bonding. In general, my research interests encompass the understanding, discovery, and application of correlated materials. In particular, I seek to design tools and ask questions which lead to new and intuitive chemical understandings of these frontier materials.
I am currently an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemical Sciences at Harvard University mentored by Joonho Lee. I received my PhD in Chemical Physics from Columbia University where I was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow under the direction of David Reichman. There, my thesis was Structure and Dynamics in Electron-Phonon Coupled Materials. Prior to that I received my BS in Physics cum laude from UCLA where I worked under Anastassia Alexandrova. I additionally spent summers working under Eric Neuscamman at UC Berkeley and Garnet Chan at Caltech.
My work has been recognized by a number of awards including the Wiley Computers in Chemistry Outstanding Postdoc Award, the Chemical Computing Group Excellence Award, and the Pegram Award from the Columbia University Chemistry department.
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PhD, Chemical Physics2023Columbia University -
BS, Physics2018University of California, Los AngelesCum Laude, Departmental and College Honors
Research Interests
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Electron-Phonon InteractionsShow Key PublicationsHide Key Publications
- P. J. Robinson, J. Lee, A. Mahajan, D. R. Reichman. Ab initio polaron wave functions. Phys. Rev. B 2025, 111, 054304. Full text
- P. J. Robinson, I. S. Dunn, D. R. Reichman. Cumulant methods for electron-phonon problems. II. The self-consistent cumulant expansion. Phys. Rev. B 2022, 105, 224305. Full text
- P. J. Robinson*, I. S. Dunn*, D. R. Reichman. Cumulant methods for electron-phonon problems. I. Perturbative expansions. Phys. Rev. B 2022, 105, 224304. Full text
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Electronic-Structure DevelopmentShow Key PublicationsHide Key Publications
- Q-Chem development team (medium-contribution author). Q-Chem 7.0 release paper. In preparation.
- P. J. Robinson* et al. Condensed-Phase Quantum Chemistry. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Comput. Mol. Sci. 2025, 15, e70005. Full text
- Q. Sun et al. Recent developments in the PySCF program package. J. Chem. Phys. 2020, 153, 024109. Full text
Selected Awards
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Wiley Computers in Chemistry Outstanding Postdoc Award — ACS COMP Division2026
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Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship — Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation2024
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Pegram Award — Columbia University Department of Chemistry2023
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Chemical Computing Group Excellence Award — ACS COMP Division2022
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NSF Graduate Research Fellowship — National Science Foundation2018
Selected Publications (view all )
Chemical Origins of Non-Bonded Interactions Within and Between Solids
P. J. Robinson, A. Rettig, H. Q. Dinh, A. Z. Ni, J. Lee
arXiv 2026, 2605.15381.
Non-Covalent Interactions
Electronic Structure
Materials
Chemical Origins of Non-Bonded Interactions Within and Between Solids
P. J. Robinson, A. Rettig, H. Q. Dinh, A. Z. Ni, J. Lee
arXiv 2026, 2605.15381.
Non-Covalent Interactions
Electronic Structure
Materials
Ab initio polaron wave functions
P. J. Robinson, J. Lee, A. Mahajan, D. R. Reichman
Phys. Rev. B 2025, 111 (5), 054304.
Electron-Phonon Interactions
Ab initio polaron wave functions
P. J. Robinson, J. Lee, A. Mahajan, D. R. Reichman
Phys. Rev. B 2025, 111 (5), 054304.
Electron-Phonon Interactions
Cumulant methods for electron-phonon problems. II. The self-consistent cumulant expansion
P. J. Robinson, I. S. Dunn, D. R. Reichman
Phys. Rev. B 2022, 105 (22), 224305.
Electron-Phonon Interactions
Cumulant methods for electron-phonon problems. II. The self-consistent cumulant expansion
P. J. Robinson, I. S. Dunn, D. R. Reichman
Phys. Rev. B 2022, 105 (22), 224305.
Electron-Phonon Interactions
Cumulant methods for electron-phonon problems. I. Perturbative expansions
P. J. Robinson*, I. S. Dunn*, D. R. Reichman (* equal contribution)
Phys. Rev. B 2022, 105 (22), 224304. Editors’ Suggestion
Electron-Phonon Interactions
Cumulant methods for electron-phonon problems. I. Perturbative expansions
P. J. Robinson*, I. S. Dunn*, D. R. Reichman (* equal contribution)
Phys. Rev. B 2022, 105 (22), 224304. Editors’ Suggestion
Electron-Phonon Interactions
Dynamical Bonding Driving Mixed Valency in a Metal Boride
P. J. Robinson, J. Munarriz, M. E. Valentine, A. Granmoe, N. Drichko, J. R. Chamorro, P. F. Rosa, T. M. McQueen, A. N. Alexandrova
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59 (27), 10996–11002. Hot Paper
Chemical Bonding
Materials
Dynamical Bonding Driving Mixed Valency in a Metal Boride
P. J. Robinson, J. Munarriz, M. E. Valentine, A. Granmoe, N. Drichko, J. R. Chamorro, P. F. Rosa, T. M. McQueen, A. N. Alexandrova
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59 (27), 10996–11002. Hot Paper
Chemical Bonding
Materials