MolSSI Software Fellow: Caitlin C. Bannan
Dr. Caitlin C. Bannan, one of our former MolSSI Software Seed and Investment Fellows, is currently a Scientific Developer at OpenEye Scientific Software in New Mexico. She earned her PhD at UC Irvine with Prof. David Mobley. Her experience focuses on improving computational methods for small molecule drug design with expertise in alchemical free energy calculations, machine learning models, and force field parameterization.
How did you first become interested in molecular science?
A friend, who was majoring in creative writing, convinced me to take an intro to computer science class with her. I was majoring in Chemistry, but I fell in love with solving problems using models and coding. After working for a few years, I decided that experimental chemistry just wasn’t for me and decided to pursue graduate work in computational chemistry.
How are you benefitting from being a MolSSI Software Fellow?
The lessons on documentation and integrating testing made me significantly more prepared for industrial software development. I was able to be immediately impactful when I started my job as a scientific software developer.
Describe your engagement with your MolSSI Software Scientist mentor.
My MolSSI mentors helped me plan out my code to make sure it would be useable for a broad audience. They were vital to making my testing and documentation successful.
What are your long-term career plans?
I am currently working as a Scientific Software Developer at OpenEye Scientific Software and I am excited to continue my career developing user-friendly computational chemistry software.
What are you happiest doing when you’re not working?
Contra Dancing — an American folk dance!