Lindsey Madison

Lindsey Madison is a theoretical chemist interested in how intermolecular interactions manifest in vibrational spectroscopy. Her research focuses on developing Diffusion Monte Carlo methods for simulating molecular vibrational behavior and applying existing computational tools to interpret light-matter interactions, often in close collaboration with experimentalists. Using theoretical and computational chemistry, she also explores the properties of clathrate hydrates, semi-stable crystalline phases of water with structures that entrap greenhouse gas molecules such as carbon dioxide and methane. She aims to describe how these hydrates’ cage structure is stabilized by guest molecules, and how the properties of the guest molecule affect the hydrate. Her work contributes to understanding this unusual relationship of a water phase stabilized by hydrophobic molecules, research that is becoming increasingly relevant as global warming causes clathrate hydrates to melt and release their greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and ocean. At Colby, Madison modernized the Chemistry Department’s curriculum by developing a Computational Chemistry Laboratory, and she made the General Chemistry course more inclusive and effective.

Madison earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from Northwestern University and her B.A. in chemistry from Carleton College.