The Team

Dr. Cao joined the Sackler Center in October 2019. Before joining the Sackler Center Dr. Wei Cao used molecular dynamics simulations for investigations of fascinating phenomena of superlubricity (the state of ultra-low friction and wear) at interfaces between water and 2D materials. His current research focuses on studying the mechanisms underlying energy dissipation in layered material junctions via theoretical and numerical means. The goal of these studies is to devise guiding rules for structure/function relations in solid-solid contacts based on 2D layered materials, and to predict new layered material coatings that present robust superlubricity,

Dr. Thapa joined the Sackler Center in December, 2020. His work is focused on using stochastic processes for the description of anomalous diffusion observed in biological and soft-matter systems. He uses different tools of statistical physics for these objectives and has experience in working with the methods of Bayesian inference and large-deviation theory. He is interested in studying active systems too, with a focus on collective motions and self-organisation. One of the goals here is in understanding the time-irreversibility in biological systems at a single-molecule level.

Dr. Erpenbeck joined the Sackler Center in November 2019, after completing his PhD at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. His research is focused on the dynamics of nonequilibrium quantum systems using theoretical and numerical methods. In particular, he studies how strongly correlated systems behave when driven out of equilibrium by external influences. Within this context, his work includes the development and optimization of state-of-the-art computational approaches to enable the description of these systems.

Dr. Vipin Kumar obtained his Ph.D. Degree (October 2018) in Physics (Computational Materials Science) from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India. He has also two years Post-Doc research experience from the University of Ulsan, South Korea. Before joining the Sackler Center Dr. Kumar significantly contributed to developing novel 2D nanomaterials for environmental toxic NCGs/OCGs sensors, semiconductors, optoelectronics, and thermoelectric applications under Density Functional Theory (DFT) frameworks. His current research focuses on involving in the theoretical simulations of materials, interfaces, and surface reactions for energy storage applications by using Density Functional Theory. In addition, his research is involving also the development and use of Deep Learning models for the acceleration of such simulations.

Dr. Chatterjee joined The Sackler Center in November 2017. His research was focused on the statistical properties of low-dimensional non-equilibrium systems using analytical theory and numerical simulation. This included work on simple lattice-gas models when active particles are closed-packed to investigate jamming and un-jamming of particles with some internal motility.

Dr. Chen joined The Sackler Center in June 2016 from Columbia University. During his stay, he developed state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo algorithms for simulating energy and electron transfer dynamics in condensed phase systems, with the aim of investigating systems ranging from molecular magnets to light-harvesting complexes. Dr. Chen returned to Columbia University in August 2016.

Dr. Gao joined the Sackler Center in October 2018. His research was focused on the nanotribological properties of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials, using molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Currently, he is studying the effects of grain boundaries on the friction properties of homojuctions and heterojunctions of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride. He is also working on accurate calculations of sliding and binding energy landscape of other novel 2D materials, such as molybdenum disulfide, using DFT calculations with considerations of many body dispersion effects.

Dr. Khanna joined the Sackler Center for two years, starting November 2017. His research was focused on the properties of low-dimensional condensed matter systems, using both analytical and numerical techniques. In particular, he studied the effect of strong correlations and emergence of superconductivity in two-dimensional electron gases.

Dr. Joseph joined The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for two years after May 2016. His work involved the application of time dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) to investigate light matter interaction in bio-inspired materials. He is also focused on the development of different numerical propagation schemes for the time dependent Kohn-Sham equations.

Dr. Mandelli was at The Sackler Center for two years, starting in February 2016. His work involved theory and simulations of friction at nano- and micro-scales, including friction in colloidal systems and layered materials.

Dr. Oğuz joined The Sackler Center during two years, from September 2016. His theoretical and numerical research addressed the statistical mechanics of soft condensed matter with an emphasis on structure and dynamics of colloidal systems under external fields. He investigated the self-assembly of soft quasicrystals as well as local density fluctuations and hyperuniformity in various point patterns including (non-)periodic and quasiperiodic ones.

Dr. Ray joined the Sackler Center in June, 2018. Her research was focused on modeling stochastic processes that occur far from equilibrium. She has worked on the energetics of classical and quantum Brownian systems, rate theory of chemical reactions and heat transport phenomena. In addition, she is interested in stochastic thermodynamics and has published work exploring several aspects of precision, energetic cost and periodic driving in small-scale dissipative systems. With a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Visva-Bharati University, India and a post-doc from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Germany, she now takes a Physical Chemist's perspective to better understand biophysical and biochemical systems at a single molecule level.

Dr. Ridley joined the Sackler Center in March 2017, after completing a PhD at Imperial College London. He worked on time-dependent quantum transport in driven systems and the theory of quantum fluctuations using nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) theory. His investigations included the effect of local interactions on the full counting statistics of electron transport in molecular junctions.

Dr. Singh was at The Sackler Center for two years, starting in November 2015. Her work involved the application of density-functional theory and related computational first-principles methods to investigate the properties of solids, including ferroelectrics and materials of interest for energy applications.