3/20/2018 Caitlin McCoy
Written by Caitlin McCoy
MatSE Professor Andre Schleife recently received the Office of Naval Research’s Young Investigator Program Award (YIP) for his proposal, “Developing a First-Principles Model of Hot-Electron-Mediated Diffusion.” YIP seeks to identify and support academic scientists and engineers early in their career who show exceptional promise for doing creative research.
“This award enables me to develop new theoretical approaches and implement efficient numerical algorithms to solve quantum-mechanical many-electron problems for accurate parameter-free simulations of electronic excitations and ultrafast dynamics in solid state materials,” Schleife said. “In particular, I will explore excited-electron effects and their interplay with ion dynamics to understand the atomistic mechanism of the early stages of flash sintering and particle-radiation damage.”
In this exciting project, Schleife’s group will explore various hypotheses aimed at unravelling the connection of energetic electrons in strong electric fields and their influence on ion mobility in insulating and ceramic materials that are of high interest to the Navy. “The Materials Science and Engineering Department at Illinois, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and the Blue Waters supercomputer form an ideal scientific environment for these challenging and numerically involved studies,” Schleife stated.
“The prestige, financial support, and the connection to the Naval Research Community that come with this award make it a cornerstone for me to build a top-rated research program at the forefront of computational materials science, based on powerful predictive parameter-free simulations. I am incredibly excited to receive this honor and can't wait to start this research!”
Learn more about the Schleife group and their work: