I enjoy teaching & mentorship as much as I enjoy research - which is why I am interested in an academic career.
My background training in both natural sciences and engineering has allowed me to develop a unique understanding of the connections between various fields. I am equally comfortable teaching classes that will be considered fundamental (like classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, electrodynamics) and applied (thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, control theory, digital & analog electronics). I run crash courses (Ryan Hall 4033, open door) on various topics most months. Interdisciplinary (and problem-based) research has made field boundaries fluid (non-existent) - physicists working on string theory need to know topology, chemists developing quantum chemical methods need to understand quantum many-body theory, chemical engineers designing catalysts with computational approaches need to understand density functional theory, biologists working on the physics of living systems need a good understanding of statistical mechanics, engineers studying microelectronics often need a good foundation of solid state physics (...).
In recent years, I have had the opportunity (privilege) of mentoring some excellent students like:
Michaela Polley (currently pursuing PhD in Mathematics at Dartmouth College, US Fulbright Fellow)
- Graph theoretic and combinatorial approaches to structure prediction from mass spectrometry data
Nikhil Chellam (currently pursuing PhD in Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University, NSF-GRF)
- Density functional tight binding models for plasmonic catalysis
Zachary Mast (currently pursuing PhD in Chemistry at Northwestern University, NSF-GRF)
- Vibration-coupled electron transfer in multimetallic systems
Baxter Flor (currently pursuing PhD in Chemistry at Northwestern University)
- Energy transfer in nanoplatelets
If you are interested in working with me on any problem, please feel free to reach out. I understand that students come with different levels of preparation (globally different standards of education, different socio-economic backgrounds, etc). As long as you are curious, willing to put in a bit of effort, and, have an open mind - we will have fun (a good foundation in basic mathematics is a bonus).