text: Kenneth M. Merz Jr. is an American biochemist and molecular biologist currently the Joseph Zichis Chair and a distinguished university professor at Michigan State University and editor-in-chief of American Chemical Societys Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling'. A highly cited expert in his field, his research interests are in computational chemistry and biology and computer-aided drug design (CADD). His group has been involved in developing the widely using AMBER suite of programs for simulating chemical and biological systems and the QUICK program for quantum chemical calculations.