Meet Our Team

Dr. Fichthorn is the Merrell Fenske Professor of Chemical Engineering and a Professor of Physics at the Pennsylvania State University. Professor Fichthorn’s research is primarily in multi-scale simulation of materials, with a diverse array of applications in thin-film and crystal growth, nanomaterials, colloidal assembly and stability, catalysis at surfaces, wetting and spreading, lubrication, and separations. An area of emphasis is developing new methods to accurately include atomic-scale details in computer simulations that can reach large length scales and/or long time scales.

Dr. Janik is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and holds the John J. and Jean M. Brennan Clean Energy Chair. Dr. Janik is affiliated with the PSU Electrochemical Engine Center, Battery and Energy Storage Technology Center, Energy Institute, PSU-Dalian University of Technology Joint Center for Energy Research, and the PSU Institutes of Energy and the Environment. His research interests are in the use of computational methods to understand and design materials for alternative energy conversion systems. Current activities address a wide-range of energy technologies including fuel cells and batteries, hydrogen generation, desulfurization, zeolite catalysis, organic photovoltaics, and CO2 capture and utilization. Research methods emphasize atomistic simulation using quantum chemical methods and kinetic modeling.

Dr. Sofo is a Professor of Physics at the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests is the emergent behavior of interactions between atoms in molecules, biological macro-molecules, artificial nanostructures, and bulk materials. Quantum mechanics provides a very successful description of the electronic origin of these interactions. The combinations of more than 100 chemical elements in an endless variety of spatial arrangements create a fascinating playground. Atoms can arrange to form periodic crystals, glasses, amorphous solids, small clusters, tubes, wires and much more. We develop and apply theoretical and computational methods to link properties and structures. Our work is devoted to understand properties like reactivity, molecular and electronic transport, stability, and optical response of solids, surfaces, clusters and molecules.

Dr. Crespi is a Distinguished Professor of Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Science and Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Crespi’s research interests include the electronic, structural, and optical properties of carbon nanostructures, frustrated magnetism, novel 2D materials, phyllotaxis, and the information theory of materials. Methods used include first principles density functional theory, dynamical mean field theory, empirical interatomic potentials, photonic bandstructures, and effective continuum theories.

Dr. Liu is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Professor Liu’s research interests focus on the modeling and design of a wide range of materials chemistry and processing through integrating first-principles calculations, statistic mechanics, thermodynamic/kinetic modeling, and critically designed experiments for structural and functional applications. Recent studies in Professor Liu’s Phases Research Lab concentrate on aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, Ni-base superalloys, ion transport membranes, and ferroelectrics. The primary emphasis is on fundamentals of phase stability, defect chemistry, and their applications in understanding and predicting relationships among materials chemistry, processing, and properties.

Dr. Oseguera is an Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies and a Senior Research Associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education. Dr. Oseguera’s research is focused on college access, college transitions, and college success. Her research interests include educational policies around college admissions,  the transition from high school to various postsecondary educational paths, pre-professional preparation programs, and college students’ agency and civic development during their undergraduate years.

Dr. Sinnott is the Department Head and Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Sinnott’s research is focused on using computational atomistic methods to design and investigate materials. Areas of research include examining the chemical modification of polymer and composite surfaces, the influence of grain boundaries, point defects, and heterogeneous interfaces on material properties, the design of materials using computational, experimental, and data informatics methods within an interdisciplinary research team, and determining the physical, chemical, optical, and electrical properties of surfaces, nanostructures, and doped materials.

Graduate student in the Department of Chemistry
Advisors: Dr. Lasse Jensen
Research interests: Surface-enhanced spectroscopy

Graduate student in the Department of Physics
Advisor: Dr. Jorge O. Sofo
Research interests: Graphene, conductivity, boron

Graduate student in the Chemistry Department 
Advisor: Dr. Adri van Duin
Research interests: Cryo-EM, ReaxFF

Graduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Michael Janik
Research interests: Computational Electrocatalysis for enviromental systems

Graduate student in the Department of Physics
Advisors: Dr. Jorge Sofo
Research interests: Mathematical physics, Landau levels, correlated systems, materials modeling

Graduate student in the Department of Material Science and Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Ismaila Dabo
Research interests: Electrochemical energy storage, water-splitting applications, density functional theory (DFT), Aurivillius phases

Graduate student in the Department of Material Science and Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Ismaila Dabo
Research interests: Computational Catalysis, DFT

Graduated from Department of Physics
Advisor: Dr. Jorge Sofo

Graduated from Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisor:  Dr. Michael Janik

Graduated from Department of Physics
Advisor: Dr. Jorge Sofo

Graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Michael Janik and Dr. Michael Hickner

Graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Michael Janik

Graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Michael Janik

Graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Kristen Fichthorn

Graduated from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Zi-Kui Liu

Graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Michael Janik and Dr. Scott Milner

Graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Adri van Duin

Former graduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Kristen Fichthorn 

Former graduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Michael Janik and Dr. Scott Milner