Faculty Member: Eric Jankowski
Making metal-based components of sensors with advanced manufacturing techniques requires optimization of the processes that guide initially dispersed metal nanoparticles into macroscopic structures. Computer simulations enable controlled experiments into the thermodynamics and kinetics of nanoparticle rearrangements that underpin manufacturing techniques, and will be used here to inform experiments to optimize print conditions for a variety of sensor technologies.
Student Research Experience: Students will become familiar with tools used to perform molecular simulations, working closely with graduate students and faculty to run molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo simulations. They will collaborate with experimentalists and modelers doing first-principles calculations for model validation and verification. Participants will be mentored in the dissemination of student work through peer-reviewed journal publications.