Council for Chemical Research Update - Jeff Riemer

Designing materials with novel functionality requires detailed understanding and control over structural order. However, engineering structures in self-assembly is a fundamental challenge, in particular in novel materials with complex structures. The focus of my research program is the analysis and description of ordered structures—and the underlying mechanisms and pathways that lead to order—across multiple length scales. Both nano- and mesoscopic materials can exhibit the same highly symmetric and complex structures that form due to a plethora of different interactions. Thus far, the occurrence of these same geometries has been discussed only in the context of the specific physical systems, e.g., electronic interactions in the case of atomistic structures. My research group will investigate the essential criteria underlying ordered structures and structure formation—i.e., nucleation and growth—across length scales, and will exploit this new understanding to design materials with dedicated structures that exhibit desirable properties and behavior.

My work bridges hard and soft matter in novel ways: it leverages techniques developed for the crystallography of hard materials to elucidate the intricate structural order found in soft materials, giving new insight into the complex behaviors that lead to order in soft matter. I develop minimal-model soft-matter systems that exhibit complex structural order previously only found in much more elaborate atomic systems; this suggests that common, simple underlying ordering mechanisms exist, which persist across length scales differing by several orders of magnitude. My complementary research background in hard and soft matter research uniquely enables me to execute this two-fold approach and gain deeper insights into the fundamentals of the structure of materials.

My goal is to establish a research group that works toward reaching a level of understanding in the area of structure prediction—via studying structure formation and stability with the tools of chemistry and crystallography, numerical simulations, ab-initio calculations, and machine learning—that will finally make engineering materials by design possible.

Teaching Interests:

I am currently mentoring several graduate students in the Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics Departments, as well as the Macromolecular Science and Engineering and the Applied Physics Programs. I also completed a short-course for postdoctoral researchers on "High-Impact Principles and Practices for STEM Education" at the University of Michigan. During my time at ETH, I advised multiple graduate and undergraduate theses and taught weekly exercises in "Crystallography". I also acted as substitute lecturer in this subject, as well as "Methods of Materials’ Characterization". I have since taught multiple short courses in Crystallography and Structure Analysis and completed a postdoctoral short-course on teaching at the University of Michigan. I look forward to teaching core engineering and physics courses, as well as developing specialty courses on materials, crystallography, and simulation.

Education & Training:

since 2015: Postdoctoral fellow, Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; advisor: Sharon C. Glotzer

2013 - 2015: Postdoctoral fellow, Materials Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; advisor: Walter Steurer

2009 - 2013: PhD student, Materials Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; thesis advisor: Walter Steurer

2002 - 2008: Diploma student, Physics, TU Dresden, Germany; thesis advisor: Dirk C. Meyer

Selected Honors & Awards:

Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow Award of the University of Michigan, 2016.

Max-von-Laue-Preis awarded to a Young Scientist by the German Crystallographic Society (DGK), 2015.

SNSF Early Postdoc.Mobility fellowship, 02/2015-07/2016.

Selected Publications (total: 1 book, 17 papers):

W. Steurer, J. Dshemuchadse, “Intermetallics: Structures, Properties, and Statistics” (2016). Oxford University Press, ISBN: 9780198714552. (608 pages)

A. T. Cadotte*, J. Dshemuchadse*, P. F. Damasceno, R. S. Newman, S. C. Glotzer, “Self-assembly of a space-tessellating structure in the binary system of hard tetrahedra and octahedra” (2016). Soft Matter 12 (34), 7073-7078. (journal cover); *: co-first authors.

E. G. Teich, G. van Anders, D. Klotsa, J. Dshemuchadse, S. C. Glotzer, “Clusters of polyhedra in spherical confinement” (2016). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113 (6), E669–E678. (highlighted article)

J. Dshemuchadse, W. Steurer, “Some Statistics on Intermetallic Compounds” (2015). Inorg. Chem. 54, 1120-1128.

J. Dshemuchadse, W. Steurer, “More of the ‘Fullercages'” (2014). Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 640, 693–700.

J. Dshemuchadse, S. Bigler, A. Simonov, T. Weber, W. Steurer, “A new complex intermetallic phase in the system Al–Cu–Ta with familiar clusters and packing principles” (2013). Acta Crystallogr. B 69, 238–248. (highlighted article)

J. Dshemuchadse, D. Y. Jung, W. Steurer, “Structural building principles of complex face-centered cubic intermetallics” (2011). Acta Crystallogr. B 67, 269–292. (feature article)

T. Weber, J. Dshemuchadse, M. Kobas, M. Conrad, B. Harbrecht, W. Steurer, “Large, larger, largest – a family of cluster-based tantalum copper aluminides with giant unit cells. I. Structure solution and refinement” (2009). Acta Crystallogr. B 65, 308–317.

Successful Research Proposals:

I have contributed to successful compute time proposals for XSEDE and INCITE resources. I was awarded an 18-month grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to work as a postdoctoral fellow in the Glotzer group at the University of Michigan.

Service:

I co-founded the "Young Crystallographers" work group within the Germany Crystallographic Society (DGK) and chaired it for three years, during which I organized and chaired two symposia within the DGK's annual meetings, as well as one standalone meeting of the "Young Crystallographers". I remain a member of the group's executive committee, and am also acting as an elected member and the chair of the prize committee of the "Will-Kleber-Gedenkmünze" award of the DGK.