Video Transcript – Computational Materials Engineering Lab Promo

Welcome to the Computational Materials Engineering Lab. I am professor Eric Jankowski and in our lab we use molecular simulations to predict the structures of materials.

Recently we’ve had a focus on polymer-based systems for advanced materials applications. What that means is looking at materials like organic photovoltaics that can convert light into electricity with an efficiency that depends upon the structure of the polymers that make up this material. And we use our simulations to figure out what the right chemistries and what the right processing protocols are to make these materials um to be able to manufacture these materials at low cost so we’ll be able to make a dent in global climate change by producing energy sustainably at a very low cost. Another area where we’re using our simulation techniques is in the development of new carbon fiber composites and new techniques for induction welding small pieces of carbon fiber composites into larger parts of an airframe so we can more inexpensively and more efficiently generate this parts that are strong enough to take you from place to place with low cost. So while we’re performing our molecular simulations it’s important for them to be correct but we also want them to be true and that this acronym stands for transferable, reproducible, usable, and extensible. And what that means is we spend a lot of time thinking about how to share our code, how to share our data, and to do this in a way where it’s easier for people to build off the discoveries that we have made and make new discoveries for themselves.

So now I’d like to introduce you to the scientists that are helping us do this. Say hi to everyone in our lab.

Hello I’m Jenny. That’s it? That’s all you want?
Hi I’m Rainier.
Hi I’m Neil.
Hey I’m Jimmy.
Hi I’m Britton.
Hi I’m Mia.
I’m Gwen.
Hi I’m Cody.
Hi I’m Emily.

One thing that I’m really proud of in our lab is how those scientists that you just met have built an inclusive atmosphere for learning how to do high performance computing accessibly. It’s a great place for coming in with some engineering background but not necessarily programming expertise and learning how to put together tools like jix depose. That’s what is shown in this gif in the upper right. It’s a tool that Jenny developed for linking up the orientation of a molecular structure with its diffraction pattern and it’s something that we need to do a lot of the time when we’re generating figures for our papers. We want to know exactly the orientation of some poly three hexaphyofene that generated this nice lamellar structure and we want to be able to reproduce it or shift it around a little bit for a publication. So that’s an example of one tool that fits in the true ecosystem that our students have developed and they do it by way of learning from each other.

There’s a lot of wisdom that’s embedded in our community and we hope that you can join us and contribute to that. So cheers! See you soon!