| Postdoctoral Fellow | |
| Chemical Sciences Division | |
| Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | |
| Address: | University of California, Berkeley |
| Department of Physics | |
| 366 LeConte Hall #7300 | |
| Berkeley, CA 94720-7300 | |
| Phone: | +1 510 282 8363 |
| Fax: | +1 510 643 9473 |
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Ph.D. in Physics
University College Cork (UCC), Ireland (1999--2002)
Supervisor: Prof. Stephen Fahy
| Thesis title: |
Short-range and long-range electron correlation in matter:
New computational methods and their application to bonding in carbon-based materials. |
Spring College on Electronic Structure Approaches to the Physics of
Materials
Abdus Salam, International Centre for Theoretical Physics,
Trieste, Italy
May-June 2000
B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics
University College Cork (UCC), Ireland (1995--1999)
Graduated with First Class honours
Current postdoctoral research, in the group of Prof. Steven G. Louie
at the University of California, Berkeley,
is focused on using many-body
electronic structure techniques to compute the excited state properties
of materials from first-principles.
Accurate quasi-particle band structures are computed using the GW approximation
to the electron self-energy,
and excitonic states with accurate accounting of electron-hole binding are
calculated by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation.
These approaches are applied to complex nanostructures, such as carbon
nanotubes, which exhibit strong excitonic effects due to quantum confinement.
Also, engaged in external collaborations associated to
x-ray spectroscopy: Calculations of the x-ray absorption spectra (XAS) of
water and ice, to test the accuracy of density functional theory in simulating
XAS and to provide insights into the true nature of hydrogen-bonding in water;
Calculating the XAS of carbon under extreme conditions of temperature and
pressure for comparison with existing experiments;
And simulating the XAS of silica under pressures of technological
and geological interest.
Postdoctoral research,
in the Quantum Simulations Group of Dr. Giulia Galli at LLNL,
on the calculation of the electronic properties of water
and aqueous systems in ground and excited states using density functional
theory, with particular application to the theoretical prediction of the x-ray
absorption spectrum of liquid water at ambient conditions and analysis
of the impact of aqueous solvation on the characteristics of optically
active molecules and silicon nanostructures.
Investigation of the non-thermal melting of laser-pumped
gold in collaboration with experimentalists at LLNL and the University of
British Columbia. Using first principles techniques, calculated the dielectric
function of gold.
PhD studies involved the development of efficient algorithmic tools to optimize many-electron wave functions for use in ground state, quantum Monte Carlo calculations, with particular application to assessing differences in stability and electron correlation in the carbon allotropes: diamond and graphite.
Postdoctoral fellow in the Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and in the Physics Department, University of California, Berkeley (UCB) under Prof. Steven G. Louie. Duties include management and optimization of existing group software, student supervision, system administration, and management of group computing resource proposals and allocations.
Postdoctoral fellow in the Quantum Simulations Group (QSG) of Dr. Giulia Galli at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Duties included development of new software and supervision of visiting graduate students.
Teaching assistant during graduate studies at UCC. Duties and responsibilities included undergraduate tutorials, laboratory work, and system administration.
