Electronic Structure and Spectroscopy of Novel Materials
Professor Arun Bansil’s is the director of the Advanced Scientific Computation Center and of the ELMO Laboratory for science teaching. His research focuses on questions concerning the electronic structure and spectroscopy of high-temperature superconductors and other novel materials, including nano-particle systems. His group is developing and implementing theoretical methodologies for carrying out first-principles calculations of spectral intensities relevant for angle-resolved photoemission, resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, scanning tunneling microscopy, positron-annihilation angular correlation, and other highly resolved spectroscopies, including effects of strong electron correlations. These investigations are aimed at elucidating the nature of electronic states at and near the Fermi energy, the mechanism of superconductivity in high temperature superconductors, and a variety of other interesting questions, and involve extensive collaborations inside and outside the US.
Network Science
Professor László Barabási heads the new Center for Network Science. His group’s research is aimed at elucidating the organizing principles that govern the complex emergence and behavior of a wide range of technological, biological, and social networks. His research on biological networks is aimed at understanding the complex interactions of elementary units in between the cell’s numerous constituents including proteins, DNA, RNA, and small molecules. This research exploits protein-chip and microarray gene expression data to study various metabolic, signaling and transcription-regulatory networks that emerge from these interactions and that are key for understanding the cell’s functional organization and human diseases.
Theoretical / Computational Materials Science and Cardiac Nonlinear Dynamics
Professor Alain Karma heads the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Complex Systems. His group’s research is broadly aimed at understanding the behavior of complex nonlinear systems, in particular the emergence and evolution of patterns in these systems. Research in materials science focuses on the development of phase-field methodologies rooted in nonequilibrium statistical physics to simulate the dynamics of phase boundaries and other interfaces in problems ranging from microstructural pattern formation in alloys to crack propagation and crystal decohesion. In cardiac nonlinear dynamics, his group’s research focuses on elucidating complex cellular and tissue-scale processes that cause life-threatening heart rhythm disorders and on developing new therapeutic approaches to suppress these disorders.
Nanotribology in Crystalline and Polymeric Materials
Professor Jeff Sokoloff’s research focuses on elucidating complex atomic-scale mechanisms of wearless friction between solid surfaces using a variety of analytical and computational methods. Topics under current investigation include studies of a proposed mechanism for the reduction of friction by a lubricant, understanding why thin films are able to slide under the exceedingly weak inertial forces exerted on the films during quartz crystal oscillations in microbalance experiments designed for studying friction, and the fundamental study of lubrication mechanism due to polymer brush coatings.
Theoretical / Computational Neuroscience
The primary goal of Prof. Armen Stepanyants' group is to understand the principles governing synaptic connectivity in the mammalian brain. Among several fundamental questions studied are: how do neurons find appropriate synaptic targets in the course of development, and how do neuron circuits change during learning and memory? What is the connectivity diagram in the adult cortical column? Is there an optimization principle which accounts for the design and the evolution of the cortex?
