People

People Alumni

    Post-doctoral fellows

  • Wenhui Duan, (1996-99). Currently: Professor, Physics Department, Tsinghua University, Beijing. Just elected Fellow of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2016), China.
  • Cesar R. S. da Silva, (CNPq Fellow, 1996-99, and Research Associate, 2005-2008). Currently: Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, Federal University of Uberlândia, MG, Brazil.
  • Bijaya Karki, (1997-2001). Currently: Chair and Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LS, USA.
  • Koichiro Umemoto, (2003-06, research associate, 2006-13). Currently: staff scientist, Earth-Life Science Institute, TITech, Tokyo, Japan.
  • João Francisco Justo, (research associate, 2007-08). Currently: Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Escola Politécnica, U. of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
  • Taku Tsuchiya, (JSPS Fellow, 2003-2005). Currently: Professor of Mineral Physics, Center for Geodynamical Research, Ehime University, Japan.
  • Jun Tsuchiya, (JSPS Fellow, 2003-05). Currently: Associate Professor, Center for Geodynamical Research, Ehime University, Japan.
  • Razvan Caracas, (2003-04). Currently: CR1 Researcher, CNRS, Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France.
  • Amel Laref, (2006-07). Currently: Research Associate, King Saud University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • Pierre Carrier, (2006-08). Currently: Applications and benchmarking analyst, Cray Inc., Minnerapolis, MN, USA.
  • Zhongqing Wu, (2005-08). Currently: Professor, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, U. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
  • Dipta Bahnu Ghosh, (2008-09). Currently: Research Associate, Department of Computer Science, LSU.
  • Han Hsu, (2007-11). Currently: Assistant Professor, Physics Department, National Central University, Jhongli City, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
  • Yonggang Yu, (2010-11). Currently: Winner of 2009 Graduate Research Award, Mineral and Rock Physics Group, AGU; Humboldt Fellow in the Department of Geology, University of Frankfurt, Professor of Mineral Physics, Department of Earth Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, CN (2013); Winner of 1,000 Youth Talents of China competition. Currently staff member at NOAA, Earth System Research Lab, Global Systems Division, Boulder, CO, USA.
  • Maribel Núnez-Valdéz, (2011-13). Currently: W2-Professor, Helmholtz-Zentrum, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ), Potsdam, Germany.
  • Tao Sun, (2011-13). Currently: Professor of Mineral Physics, Key Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Winner of 1,000 Youth Talents of China competition.
  • Dong-Bo Zhang, (2011-14). Currently: Associate Professor of Computational Condensed Matter Physics,Computational Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Beijing,China
  • Fawei Zheng, (post-doc, 2014-15). Currently: Associate Professor, Computational Condensed Matter Physics, Institute for Applied Mathematics and Computational Physics, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Beijing, China.
  • Mehmet Topsakal, (2013-16). Currently: Research Associate, Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA.
  • Gaurav Shukla, (2016). Currently: post-doc in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Environmental Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
  • Pedro da Silveira, (2014-16). Currently: Senior software engineer, Digital River, Minnetonka, MN, USA
  • Joelson Cott-Garcia, (2016). Currently: Business/Materials Development Researcher, Nissan Chemical America Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, USA.
  • Kanchan Sarkar, (09/2014-17). Currently: Research scientist at the Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Ulm.
  • Michel Marcondes-Lacerda, (05/2017-19). Currently: Research scientist, Department of Materials Physics, Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
  • Yang Sun, (11/2019-2021). Currently: Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
  • Wenjie Lei, (04/2021-10/22). Currently: Software engineer at Google, Silicon Valley.

    • Graduate students

  • Kendall Thomson, (PhD, Chemical Engineering, 1995-99). Currently: Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
  • Alexander Dobin, (PhD, Physics, 1998-2001, Graduated under Randall Victora.). Currently: scientific staff member at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.
  • Chris Perrey, (PhD, Materials Science, 1999-2001, Graduated under Barry Carter). Currently: Principal Engineer at Tennant Company, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, USA.
  • Maribel Núnez-Valdéz, (PhD, Physics 2009-11). Currently: W2-Professor, Helmholtz-Zentrum, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ), Potsdam, Germany.
  • Pedro da Silveira, (PhD graduate student, Scientific Computing 2008-14). Currently: senior software engineer, Digital River, Minnetonka, MN.
  • Gaurav Shukla, (PhD, Physics, 2011-15). Currently: post-doc in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Environmental Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
  • Juan Valencia-Cardona, (PhD, Scientific Computing Program, 2014-18). Currently: Computer Aided Design Engineer, Intel, Seattle, WA.
  • Tian Qin, (PhD, Earth Sciences, 2014-19). Currently: Senior software engineer, Shenzhen Bay Lab, Shenzhen, China.
  • Ziyu Cai, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2018-19). Currently: Data scientist at Infineum, Shanghai, China.
  • Tianqi Wan, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2018-19). Currently: GRA at the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University.
  • Hongjin Wang, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2018-19). Currently: MSc student in the Department of Computer Science, Columbia University.
  • Jingyi Zhuang, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2018-19). Currently: GRA in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University.
  • Chenxing Luo, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2018-19). Currently: GRA in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University.
  • Chenhui Yang, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2018-19). Currently: GRA in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, University of Virginia.
  • Jiayang Wang, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2020-21). Currently: GRA in Department of Materials Science, Penn State University.
  • Yuanchen Gao, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2020-21). Currently: GRA in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, University of Virginia.
  • Chaoxuan Gu, (MSc, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Science Program, 2021-22). Currently: GRA in the Department of Materials Science, Brown University.
  • Zhen Zhang, (PhD, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics Program, 2018-23). Currently: Post-doc in the Department of Physics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
  • Qi Zhang, (MSc track from 2017-18, PhD, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics Program, 2019-24). Currently: Postdoc in the Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics Department, Columbia University, and moving to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

    • Undergraduate students

  • Blake Wolf, (Materials Science (CEMS) , Summer 2015.). Currently: a graduate student in Materials Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Minnesota, MN, USA.
  • William R. Lindemann, (Department of Materials Engineering, Iowa State University, UMN/MRSEC-REU student from Summer 2014.). Currently: a graduate student in Materials Science, MIT, Boston, USA.
  • Caroline Qian, (Chemical Engineering (CEMS) and Computer Science, UMN-REU student, 01-12/2014). Currently: a graduate student in Chemical Engineering, UC-Irvine, CA, USA.
  • Anne Carlson, (Chemical Engineering (CEMS) and Mathematics, UMN-REU student, 01-12/2013). Currently: at Cortec Corporation, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
  • Rajat Ghosh, (Chemical Engineering (CEMS), 06-12/2014). Currently: a modeler at ExxonMobil, Houston, TX, USA.
  • Alexander Holiday, (Chemical Engineering, CEMS, UMN-REU student, 2011-12). Currently: a graduate student, Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, NJ, USA.
  • Neal Kelly, (Materials Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science, UMN-REU student, 2009-12). Currently: a software developer and database manager, UnitedHealth Group, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
  • Daniil Kigelman, (Computer Science, intern at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, 2006-08). Currently: Software developer and database manager, Thomson Reuters, Eagan, MN, USA.
  • Elena Bernardis, (Materials Science and Mathematics, CEMS, UMN-REU student, 1999-2001.). Currently: a Research Associate, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, USA.

    • Visiting students and researchers

  • Chao Yao, Graduate student from School of Earth and Space Sciences – USTC-Hefei, China, with Prof. Zhongqing Wu, (2015-16). Currently: a graduate student at USTC.
  • Michel Lacerda Marcondes dos Santos, Graduate student from Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil, with Prof. Lucy C. Assali, (2014-15). Currently: a post-doc at Airforce Technology Institute (ITA), São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
  • Yuichiro Yamagami, Graduate student from Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, with Prof. Susumu Saito, (2009). Currently: moved to the private sector, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Victor Vinograd, Research Associate from the Department of Geology, University of Frankfurt, (Summer 2010). Currently: Research Scientist, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, Juelich, Germany.
  • Tao Sun, Graduate student from Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, with Prof. Philip B. Allen, (2007-08). Currently: Associate Professor of Mineral Physics, Key Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • Di Wang, Graduate student from the Department of Geophysics, Virginia Tech with Prof. Nancy Ross, (Summer 2009). Currently: software developer at CGG, Houston, TX, USA.
  • Ryan Requist, Graduate student from Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, with Prof. Philip B Allen, (2006-07). Currently: Research Associate, Max Planck Institute-Halle, Germany.
  • Gilberto Paiva, Graduate student from the Materials Department, University of São Paulo, with Prof. Adalberto Fazzio, (1997-98). Currently: a high school teacher, São Paulo, Brazil.
  • Boris Kiefer, Graduate student from Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with Prof. Lars Stixrude, (1997). Currently: Associate Professor, Physics Department, University of New Mexico, NM, USA.


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