Biographies

Dr. Betsy M. Rice
Research Chemist, Weapons and Materials Research Directorate of the Army Research Laboratory, US Army

Dr. Betsy Rice, a research chemist in the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate of the Army Research Laboratory, is responsible for initiating, planning, and personally performing research investigations to determine microscopic details of the physical and chemical processes of materials of interest to the Army, including energetic materials, chemical agents and materials related to armor/armaments.

Dr. Rice’s expertise lies in the theoretical chemistry areas of classical molecular simulation and quantum mechanical molecular characterization directed toward advanced modeling of materials that are critical components of several DoD weapons and S&T mission areas.

Dr. Rice began her tenure with the Army as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ballistic Research Laboratory in 1989, and was subsequently hired by the Laboratory in 1990. Dr. Rice currently works in the Propulsion Science Branch, Ballistics and Weapons Concepts Division, Weapons and Materials Research Directorate. Dr. Rice received a B.S. Degree in Chemistry from Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1984 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Oklahoma State University in 1987. She also held a postdoctoral position in 1988 with a private company, Chemical Dynamics Corporation, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland before joining the Army research community.

Dr. Rice is the author or coauthor of more than 60 open literature publications in journals in the field of theoretical chemical physics and author of nine invited book chapters relating to molecular simulations of energetic materials. Dr. Rice was also the recipient of the 1999 and 2007 ARL Awards for Technical Publication, both detailing efforts in predicting molecular properties of explosives associated with performance or vulnerability using quantum mechanics. Dr. Rice was also the recipient of the 1997 and 2003 Army Research and Development Achievement Awards for her work on molecular simulations of energetic materials. Dr. Rice was named an ARL Fellow in 2000.