Description

This fellowship opportunity is offered by the NRC Research Associateship Programs in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at their Boulder, Colorado campus. The research is conducted within the Thermodynamics Research Center group, which focuses on interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of nanomechanics, mesoscale physics, and chemistry. The primary research areas include charge and mass transport, as well as interfacial phenomena in condensed-matter systems at the nanoscale, encompassing both liquid and solid states.

The program encourages innovative research proposals in topics such as:

• Aqueous ion transport through subnanoscale pores in two-dimensional materials (e.g., boron nitride, transition metal dichalcogenides, graphene, MXenes) for molecular separations and water desalination.
• Physics of solid-state and hybrid solid-state-biomolecular devices for DNA and protein sequencing.
• Structural and thermodynamic properties of static and kinetic friction in two-dimensional and lamellar materials.
• Ionic liquids confined at the nanoscale for supercapacitor energy storage applications.

The research employs advanced theoretical and computational methods including coordination chemistry, multi-barrier transition state theory, large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, and density functional theory calculations. Collaboration with experimental scientists is integral to the research approach.

Selected publications from the group highlight advances in ion transport, mechanosensitive ion channels, DNA sequencing sensors, and nanoscale friction phenomena.