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My current research aims at theoretically modeling and understanding the non-equilibrium, nonlinear phenomena in complex dynamical systems, with emphasis on the formation and evolution of nano-patterns in both "soft" and "hard" advanced materials, as well as the mesoscopic description of structure, dynamics, and response of nanoscale phases. The rationale behind our mesoscopic-level modeling is that the characteristic spatial and temporal scales of structural evolution in materials of nano-phases are far beyond the individual molecular or atomic dimension, and hence mesoscopic, coarsed-grained approaches as well as continuum (and/or hydrodynamic) description can be developed to well account for the complex phase behavior; on the other hand, phenomena in the mesoscopic range, albeit widely encountered in material systems, are still poorly understood, especially in the quantitative level.
The other aspect of my research involves the application of statistical and computational physics to addressing some fundamental issues in biological science, with particular attention paid to the problem of biological aging. This research is motivated by results of human demography and experiments of other living organisms conducted for longevity studies, and aims at understanding the senescence phenomena and the age-structured population dynamics through the combination of genetic/nongenetic mechanisms and computational methods such as bit-string modeling and Monte Carlo simulation. |
One of my major interests is in the evolution of soft materials like
block copolymers, particularly the nonlinear dynamics of the emergent
mesophases. One of my focuses is being put on the stability and
dynamics of topological defects which, as characteristic of the
mesoscopic range, are believed to play a determinant role in the
material properties and microstructure evolution. The
understanding of defect dynamics is hence crucial for going beyond the
empirical characterization of macroscopic material systems, and also
for the precise microstructural control of the polymer system as
required in the achieving of high-performance materials. The other
focus of my research is on the hydrodynamic effect of such complex fluids,
especially the viscosity contrast between ordered domains of different
orientations, which governs the nonlinear response of the
system to external confinements.
Another system that I work on is strained
thin films grown by heteroepitaxy, in particular those of
alloy heterostructures and multilayers. The major factor concerned
here is system elasticity which, coupled with effects of
thermodynamics and kinetic deposition, controls the growth stability,
both morphological and compositional, and thus the nanostructure
formation, properties, and evolution.