First Principles Research

First Principles Research was founded in 1994 by Dr. Jason Perry and incorporated in 1996 when Dr. Jamil Tahir-Kheli joined on.  The company offers consulting and contract research in theoretical Chemistry and Physics, with a primary focus on the use of computational theoretical methods.

With extensive computational resources, the company has among other things developed a new model for gasoline reforming for the Chevron Research and Technology Company (CRTC), determined the source of photostability for a class of   Rhône-Poulenc Ag pesticides, and won FDA approval for a LifeChart.com device used to measure the breathing of asthma patients.  In addition, the combined efforts of Tahir-Kheli and Perry led to a new theory for high temperature superconductivity which has recently been described in a series of published papers (Publications). 

Current long-term projects of the company include the development of a model for oil hydrocracking for CRTC, further research on high temperature superconductivity, and related research on the collosal magnetoresistive (CMR) manganites.

Clients of First Principles Research have included, Chevron Research and Technology Company (CRTC), Chevron Petroleum Technology Company (CPTC), Henkel Corporation, LifeChart.com, Motorola, Raytheon, Rhône-Poulenc Ag, and Rhône-Poulenc Rorer. 

Academic collaborators include William A. Goddard of Caltech and Michael T. Bowers of UCSB.   Industrial collaborators include UserSystems, Inc.  Software partners include Schrödinger, Inc.

For more information on our services, please contact us directly at jkp@firstprinciples.com.

Jason K. Perry, Ph.D.

Jason Perry is a theoretical chemist who specializes in applications of ab initio electronic structure methods.  While possessing a broad background in the field, of particular interest to him are applications in materials science, biochemistry, and catalysis which involve transition metals.  Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, he received his B.A. in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1987.   His undergraduate research, conducted under the guidance of Prof. David R. Yarkony, introduced him to the field of quantum chemistry.  He obtained his M.S. in Chemistry in 1989 and his Ph.D. in 1994 under the guidance of Prof. William A. Goddard III at the California Institute of Technology.   Focusing largely on organometallic applications of ab initio electronic structure theory, during his years at Caltech he studied problems including metal clusters, chemisorption to metal surfaces, nanotechnology, van der Waals complexes, symmetry breaking in organometallic molecules, and gas phase ion chemistry.  

After graduating in 1994, Dr. Perry joined Schrödinger, Inc., developers of the ab initio software package JAGUAR, the molecular modeling package MacroModel, and the ligand docking package Glide.  As senior applications scientist,  he has functioned as the primary interface between Schrödinger's customers and programmers, assisting the customers in the use of the code and assisting the programmers in the development of code.  In 1994, Dr. Perry also founded First Principles with the purpose of conducting applied research for industrial clients and basic research of fundamental interest.   Chevron has been a longtime client and in 1997 a new kinetic model for gasoline reforming which was based on ab intio derived thermochemistry was delivered to them.  A similar kinetic model for hydrocracking was delivered in 2000.  In 1996, the company incorporated to become First Principles Research, Inc. when Dr. Jamil Tahir-Kheli, a colleague of Dr. Perry's from Caltech, came on board.  Together they developed a new theory for high temperature superconductivity which is described elsewhere on this site.

Jason Perry can be contacted at jkp@firstprinciples.com.

Jamil Tahir-Kheli, Ph.D.

Raised in West Virginia, Jamil Tahir-Kheli entered Oriel College, Oxford University at 15 where he received his B.A. Honours in Mathematics in 1984. He received an M.S. in Physics in 1986 and a PhD in Physics in 1992 from Caltech. During that period, he worked primarily on a theory for high temperature superconductivity based upon the 3-band Hubbard spin models of the time. In 1993, Dr. Tahir-Kheli started working for a finance company developing models for a $2.5 billion US stock portfolio. In 1994, he left the finance world and began consulting on a variety of projects finally joining forces with his old Caltech officemate and friend Jason Perry in 1996 to found First Principles Research.

Dr. Tahir-Kheli has worked on a broad spectrum of projects that have a common thread of model development of physical processes and software algorithm development. His consulting includes the accurate modeling of the physics of a novel spirometer from LifeChart.com that is currently in use by tens of thousands of asthmatic adults and children. This work led directly to FDA approval of the device. He has also worked on the development of Gaussian orbital based Density Functional Methods (DFT), and most significantly the development of a completely novel and original theory for high temperature superconductivity. Dr. Tahir-Kheli is currently working on the development of numerical algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signal processing and space-based Moving Target Indication (MTI) radars.

[ Home ]