Dr. Sharon C. Glotzer

     Director, Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science
        and Physicist, Polymers Division
     National Institute of Standards and Technology
     Bldg. 223/Room A311
     Gaithersburg, MD  20899
     (301) 975-5729
     (301) 975-5012
     sharon.glotzer@nist.gov

     Ph.D., 1993, Boston University, in Theoretical Soft Condensed Matter Physics
     M.A., 1990, Boston University, in Physics
     B.S.,   1987, University of California, Los Angeles, in Physics

Theoretical and computational research activities in soft materials, including polymers, liquids, glasses, colloids, liquid crystals, and granular materials.  Current research topics include: emergence of structure and self-assembly in soft materials; guided- and self-assembly of nanostructures into complex, functional arrangements; physical and rheological properties of filled and nano-filled polymers; relaxation processes in dense liquids, polymers, and colloids; controlling fabrication and processing of mesoscale and mesoporous structure in blends; molecular and mesoscale simulation, multiscale modeling, acceleration algorithms, grid-based computing and massively parallel simulation of soft materials; molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo, time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau/phase field methods and finite element methods; computational materials science techniques, tools and applications to soft materials.

    

Publications

Postdoctoral opportunities beginning in 2000-2001

NIST Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science


Background

Sharon Glotzer joined NIST in 1993 as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow in the Polymers Division, after receiving her Ph.D. in theoretical soft condensed matter physics from Professor H. Eugene Stanley's group at Boston University.  She became a permanent member of the Polymers Division in the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory in 1995.  Dr. Glotzer is the director and co-founder of the NIST Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science, and served as its deputy director and acting director from 1994-1998.

Dr. Glotzer has published more than 40 scientific papers in refereed journals, edited several conference proceedings, and organized or co-organized a dozen workshops, conferences, symposia and scientific meetings. Her first paper, written while an undergraduate in 1987, was in 1991 voted ``One of the 50 Most Memorable Papers,'' published in the American Journal of Physics.  Dr. Glotzer has given close to 50 invited talks at national and international conferences and universities on her research on theory and simulation of soft materials, and on the growing field of computational materials science.  Dr. Glotzer is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Physical Society, Materials Research Society, American Chemical Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.   She has served on the nominating committee for the APS Division of Computational Physics, and is currently chair of the judges panel for the APS Metropolis Award.   Dr. Glotzer is also working with others to establish a new forum within AIChE on computational molecular science and engineering.  She serves on several scientific advisory and editorial boards, including the NSF Science and Technology Center for Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials, the electronic journal PhysChemComm, and the Western Compaq Center for Computational Science at the University of Western Ontario.  She serves as a Ph.D. advisor to students in the Physics Dept. at Johns Hopkins University and in the Chemical Physics Program at the University of Maryland, and supervises a number of postdocs in her group.  Dr. Glotzer regularly reviews proposals and manuscripts for NSF, DOE, PRF, DOD, AFOSR, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review E, Europhysics Letters, Macromolecules, J. Polymer Science, J. Physical Chemistry, J. Chemical Physics, European Physics Journal B, J. Physics: Cond. Matt., Physica A, Physics Today, and Science.

Sharon Glotzer has received a number of awards, including an NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from 1993-1995;  a  Senior Visiting Fellowship Award at the Centre for Chemical Physics, University of Western Ontario in May 1996 for research related to pattern formation in complex fluids, and frustration in glass-forming systems; the 1997 Department of Commerce Bronze medal award for co-founding the CTCMS in 1994; and the 1998 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in recognition of her broad contributions to the theory of complex fluids and soft materials, and for her leadership in the emerging field of computational materials science. The Presidential Awards are intended to recognize some of the finest scientists and engineers who, while early in their research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century.  The Presidential Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. Most recently, Dr. Glotzer received the 2000 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award of the American Physical Society.
 
As Director of the CTCMS, Sharon Glotzer works closely with industry, academia, and other government and national laboratories to advance the field of computational materials science and its applications to industrially important problems.  She works with others to help nucleate collaborative activities in materials theory and simulation, and guides their growth and progress. Dr. Glotzer has also participated in and chaired several roadmapping activities in molecular and materials modeling and simulation. More information about the CTCMS, as well as computational research tools developed  by researchers at the CTCMS, are available at http://www.ctcms.nist.gov.


Members of the Glotzer group

Under the auspices of the NIST Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science, and Polymers Division, as well as the University of Maryland Chemical Physics Program, Sharon Glotzer supervises postdocs and students on theory and simulation of soft materials.
 
Past group members:
Dr. Claudio Castellano (now at the ICTP in Trieste, Italy)
Dr. Claudio Donati (now at the University of Rome, "La Sapienza")
Dr. Paolo Allegrini (now at the University of Pisa)
Dr. Thomas Schroeder (graduated from Roskilde Univesity in Denmark)

Current group members:
Dr. Nita Parekh
Dr. Francis Starr
Mr. Yeshitila Gebremichael (currently enrolled at the University of Maryland)
Ms. Naida Lacevic (currently enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University)
 
Postdoctoral opportunities beginning in 2000-2001