Anne B. McCoy
Anne McCoy is the Natt-Lingafelter Professor of Chemistry at University of Washington. McCoy’s research focuses on developing theoretical and computational methods to study molecules and complexes that undergo large amplitude vibrational motions even at low levels of excitation. These motions are important in many areas, including astrochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and combustion. Her tools also enable the study of fundamental phenomena—such as hydrogen bonding and long-range charge transfer—that are challenging for standard methods to capture, making them especially valuable from a theoretical perspective.
McCoy’s research has been recognized with the Herschbach Medal for theory from the Conference on the Dynamics of Molecular Collisions (2025), the Jack Simons Award for Theoretical Chemistry (2022) and the Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal (2021) from the American Chemical Society (ACS). She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.
McCoy is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. From 2005-2011, she was a senior editor for the Journal of Physical Chemistry and served as the deputy editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry-A from 2011-2020. She holds a Ph.D. Chemistry from University of Wisconsin–Madison.