Renata Wentzcovitch, Research Group

Cesar R. S. da Silva

Cesar R. S. da Silva (1996-1999) is currently a staff member of the Virtual Laboratory for Earth and Planetary Materials at the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute. He was a post doctoral researcher with a fellowship from CNP of Brazil. He received his doctorate in Physics from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre. He was an experienced MD practitioner who had developed codes to simulate the impact of ions in solids involving 105 106 particles. While in my group he investigated elastic properties and phase transitions in Earth minerals, metals, and common insulators. He became a Professor of Computer Science at Universidade Bandeirante in São Paulo, Brazil.

Wenhui Duan

Wenhui Duan (1996-1999) is currently a Full Professor of Physics at Tsinghua University in Beijing . He was already an Associate Professor when he was in my group. His work in my group involved first princi¬ples elasticity in minerals, magnetic impurities in oxides (ruby), and bulk properties of chromia.

Bijaya Karki

Bijaya Karki (1997-2001) is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Louisiana State University. He held a Diploma in Physics from the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Physics, University of Edinburgh, UK. His research was concerned with thermoelasticity of Earth’s mantle minerals.

Razvan Caracas

Razvan Caracas (2003-04) received his Ph.D in Physical-Chemistry and hysics of Materials at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. His undergraduate degree was in Geology and Geophysics from Bucharest University. His Ph.D thesis concerned first principles studies of commensurate-incommensurate transitions. He investigated structural and elastic properties of lower mantle and D” minerals. Currently has been a research fellow at the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington. He is currently a visiting scientist at Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Kendall Thomson

Kendall Thomson (1995-1999) was a graduate student I co advised with Profs. Ted Davis and Alon McCormick. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Physics. His thesis topic was "Electronic and Structural Properties of Zeolites". He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of Purdue University.

Alexander Dobin

Alexander Dobin (1998-2001) was a graduate student from the Physics Department working in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with Prof. Randal Victora. He held a MSc in Physics and Engineering (Diploma with Honors), from St. Petersburg State Technical University, Physics Engineering Department, with specialization in Solid State Physics. He was supported by our Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). He is currently a technical staff member of Seagate Technology in Minneapolis.

Chris Perrey

Chris Perrey (1999-2001) was a graduate student in the Materials Science program. He is a chemical engineer by training (U. of Missouri, Columbia ). He obtained M.Sc. degree in my group. He obtained his PhD in microscopy with Prof. Barry Carter (ceramics lab). He is currently working for Guidant Corp.

Elena Bernardis

Elena Bernardis (1999-2001) was a senior undergraduate student in Materials Science and Mathematics. She was a participant for the Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) at U. of Minnesota. She investigated the accuracy of equations of state for solids. She is currently a graduate student in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gilberto Paiva

Gilberto Paiva was a graduate student in Physics at the University of São Paulo. He spent four months in our department as a visiting graduate student. He was initiated in ab initio MD during my collaboration with Prof. Adalberto Fazzio. After completing his Masters degree he became a high school teacher in São Paulo.

Boris Kiefer

Boris Kiefer (1997-2000) was a graduate student at the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor , co-advised by Prof. Lars Stixrude , my Co-PI. His thesis concerned first principles elasticity of mantle minerals. After a post doctoral appointment at the Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, he became an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department of New Mexico University.

Taku Tsuchiya

Taku Tsuchiya (2003-2005) received his M.S. degree in Physics and Ph.D in Science from Osaka University. He was a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Tokyo Institute of Technology before joining my group on 7/03. His past research concerned computer simulations of minerals at high pressures and temperatures using classical interatomic potentials and more recently first principles methods. While in our group he worked on thermoelasticity and phase relations of lower mantle phases. He had a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). He is now Associate Professor at the Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, Japan.

Jun Tsuchiya

Jun Tsuchiya (2003-2005) received her M.S. degree in Physics and Ph.D in Science from Osaka University. She was a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Physics at the University of Tokyo. Her Ph.D research involved first principles studies of hydrous minerals. While in our group she is investigated thermoelasticity and phase relations of lower mantle phases. She had a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Now she is a Research Associate at the Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, Japan.

Amel Laref

Amel Laref (post-doc 2006) is now a post-doc in Physics at the University of Sidi-Bel-Abbes, Algeria.