User:Smandarynka/Otilia Mo Romero

= Otilia Mó Romero =

Otilia Mó Romero (Ponteareas, 24 December 1947) is a Spanish researcher, full professor of Physical Chemistry in the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM), who specializes in theoretical chemistry and computational modeling. She has been Vicedean of Students and Head of the Chemistry Department at UAM. Additionally, she is known for being one of the top six women with most scientific articles published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. She has also served as a directora general de Programas de la cartera de Ciencia.

Life
Mo was born to Dorinda Romero and Jose Mó. She is married with Manuel Yañez, who is also full professor in Physical Chemistry in UAM. They have three daughters, one of whom has followed Mo's steps, becoming a researcher in the field of cellular biology and immunology.

Career
In 1970, Mo obtained the bachelor degree in Chemistry from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, and was awarded the Extraordinary Prize (given to the two top students of each graduating class). Four years later, she completed her PhD dissertation in UAM, on the topic of 'Theoretical study of Charge Transfer Complexes', which was awarded with the Extraordinary Prize as well. During the following two years she continued investigating as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania, USA), in the group of John A. Pople, who would later earn the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1998).

She returned to Spain in 1976 as a lecturer in UAM, and in 1983 tenured to Associate Professor. For three years (1996-1999) she was Vice-dean of Students of the Faculty of Sciences. She became Full Professor in 2000, and, four years later, Head of the Department of Chemistry (2004-2008). During these years she was a visiting professor at various international academic institutions, such as the University d'Evry-Val-d'Essonne, in Paris (2004, 2012); the School of Chemistry, in Sidney (2003) and the Dalhousie University, in Halifax (2012).

Mo actively participates in research in the Molecular Structure and Reactivity Group at UAM, which focuses on hydrogen-bonded clusters, weak interactions (such as Berillium bonds), carbon clusters, reactions in atmospheric chemistry, and basicity in gas phase, among other topics.

Additionally, she has organized high-profile scientific meetings such as the Ninth edition of the  Congress of the Word Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists in Santiago de Compostela (2011).

On the other hand, she coordinates the European Master on Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Modeling (EM TCCM), which is endorsed by the EuroLabel issued by the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association (ECTNA) and is part of the Innovative Training Network (ITN) for the European Joint Doctorate in Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Modeling.

She has contributed to scientific policymaking as well: she was first secretary (1991) and then head (1991-1995) of the University Institute of Women Studies of the UAM, which  she helped to be officially recognized by the Government in 1993. At a state level, she was General Director of Programs and Knowledge Transfer in the then Ministery of Science and Innovation, DATES.

Awards and Honors
In the 2017 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, in Honor of the 150th Birthday of Marie Curie, she was highlighted as one of the six women to publish more than 50 scientific articles in this Journal.

In 2019 she was selected as one of the awardees for "Distinguished Women in Chemistry" by IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry).

J. Phys. Chem. A 2017,  121, 43, 8185-8187