Theoretical & computational scientist working at the intersection of quantum and statistical physics. Interested in everything quantum (physics/chemistry/biology) and complex.
I develop methods — drawn from electronic-structure theory, statistical physics, stochastic dynamics, graph algorithms, and machine learning — to study how charge, spin, and energy move through complex, disordered systems.
Recent advances in machine learning and molecular dynamics have made the study of nuclear structure–function correlations tractable in systems we used to consider hopeless. I want to do the same for electronic properties: predicting, designing, and understanding emergent behaviour in matter that resists clean theoretical handles.
I am equally interested in how, what, and why. Given a choice, I prefer the wrong answer with an honest reason over the right answer with a shrug.
Outside of work I take photographs, paint, play several instruments poorly and a few sports adequately. I read, often. I dislike broccoli with conviction.
Electronic-structure theory coupled with stochastic and graph-based methods to follow excitations through complex biological systems where order is the exception, not the rule. I want to understand how and why evolution chose those pathways.
Coupling classification, regression, and dimensionality reduction with the physics a system must obey. I am interested in what the model is actually learning — and whether it can predict emergent properties at all.
Theory-led design of molecules and materials for renewable energy, critical-metal separations, and electronic-waste reuse. Large-scale screening of materials and processes related to sustainability.
When does a collection become a system? Excitonic behaviour in organic frameworks, plasma-driven electrochemistry, and light-energy-matter interactions in general — work that asks where collective phenomena begin.
I run the Quantum Biosciences Consortium together with Songi Han that brings together researchers across the globe working on quantum biology. [Join us for our flagship event QBi2 this October in Chicago. Register at https://qbisquared.com].
I organize TCSS with Todd Gingrich and Roel Tempelaar — a venue for theoretical and computational research at Northwestern. If you have something exciting to share, get in touch!
I mentor graduate and undergraduate researchers globally through Yale Cross Campus and Lindau Mentoring Hub. I am also actively involved in training and mentorship of students from various theoretical and experimental chemistry groups at Northwestern University.
I peer-review research articles for leading physical and chemical science journals like JACS, Chemical Science, Chemical Communications, Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation etc.