Origins
Revealing the origins of order and matter
The early phases of our solar system saw the emergence of earth’s matter and biology’s order. These formative events, be they nucleosynthesis in the early sun or the self-assembling molecules in the primordial soups, shape everything we know. They also inspire us to root out their origins. Research at these frontiers reveals the inner workings of the hierarchical assembly of viruses, as well as the folding and the function of abiological molecules, amongst others. Deep knowledge and the practical expertise gained in these endeavors will enable future applications that may rival natural forces. See more faculty interested in this theme »
Faculty
Philip Shushkov Sara E. Skrabalak Sylvie Hudan Romualdo deSouza Trevor Douglas Bogdan Dragnea Amar Flood Stephen C. Jacobson Martin F. Jarrold Liang-shi Li Peter Ortoleva Jonathan Raff Krishnan Raghavachari Steven L. Tait Xingchen YeResearch
Developing Methods for Simulating Nanostructured Materials
The Ortoleva group is developing methods for simulating nanostructured materials. The approach uses physics-based multiscale theoretical and computational methods. The methodology is used to discover pathways of supramolecular structures and their self-assembly...
Fusing Nuclei Under Extreme Conditions
X-ray superbursts are fascinating phenomena in which an accreting neutron star emits the energy equal to the output of our sun in a century in just a few hours! The energy source fueling this explosive event is presently unknown. One possible source responsible...