I am currently a postdoc with Benoit Roux at the University of Chicago.

Dynamics of single molecules in glassformers

Recent experimental measures of glasses often probe the dynamics of single molecules. We are doing similar studies on the rotational and translational degrees of freedom in kinetically constrained models. For more information about this research, please click here.

Dynamic universality in glassformers

When a liquid is cooled below its freezing point while avoiding nucleation of the solid phase, it begins to experience a dramatic dynamical slowdown. This is a common prescription for making a glass. In collaboration with Juan P. Garrahan, we are investigating to what extent the dynamics of this slowdown is universal by studying the various properties of a class of kinetically constrained lattice gas models. For more information about this research, please click here.

Coarse graining models of glassy behavior

We are investigating glassy behavior in a kinetically constrained lattice gas model with the ultimate goal of determining how it can be related to more coarse grained models such as facilitated Ising models (i.e. can we coarse grain a more realistic model of glassformers such that its dynamics "resemble" a facilitated Ising model?). For more information, please click here.

Initial stages of nucleation in polymer blends

We are currently participating in an exciting collaboration with Nitash Balsara and Tim Rappl in the chemical engineering deparment here at Berkeley, studing the initial stages of nucleation in polymer blends. We are using a combination of small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and Monte Carlo simulations to try and understand this fundamental process. For more information on our work concerning the dynamics of nucleation in a simple model, please see the section below. For information on the Balsara group's SANS research with polymer blends, please click here.

Pathways to nucleation in a lattice model

Nucleation describes the process associated with phase transitions familiar from everyday experience such as the condensation of water vapor. Surprisingly, such an ubiquitous phenomenon is still not completely understood --- particularly the dynamics of how it happens at the microscopic level. Recent advances in experiment and computer simulation have shown that the true nature of the process differs, sometimes quite dramatically, from the picture predicted by the simple and widely used classical theory of nucleation developed over 80 years ago, as well as that predicted by more modern theories. I have studied nucleation in one of the world's simplest models with some surprising results. For more information, please click here.