(7x) Flexible and Dynamic Porous Crystals

1. Fundamentals of the thermodynamics of porous solids with dynamic constituents

Some porous materials possess dynamic constituents that respond to guest molecules and external stimuli. Such enzyme-like complexity can enhance the selective recognition and capture of molecules. I propose to construct and analyze simple, yet illuminating statistical mechanical models to study porous crystals with dynamic constituents to harness them for gas separations, chemical sensing, drug delivery, and catalysis.

2. Computationally-accelerated discovery of flexible materials for chemical sensing

Using a Materials Genome approach, I propose to explore the chemical space of gate-opening materials by constructing structure models from judiciously chosen molecular building blocks and carrying out high-throughput computational screenings to identify candidates for sensitive and selective chemical sensors.

3. Mechanisms of bistability and pattern formation in dynamical systems

I propose to develop mathematical models to elucidate the mechanism of the shifts in the microbial composition in the mucus layer of coral that are involved in bleaching, the water-biomass feedback involved in the self-organization of vegetation in arid landscapes, and the organization of proteins that mediate the formation of invadopodia in invasive cancer cells. These projects stem from my background in applied mathematics, but involve striking parallels with phase transitions in chemistry and reaction modeling and fluid dynamics in chemical engineering.

Teaching Interests:

Statistical Mechanics, Transport Phenomena, Reaction Engineering, Thermodynamics, generally any course on mathematical or numerical methods, data analysis, data visualization, or computer programming