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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260511T143000
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SUMMARY:MSE Seminar: Mit Naik
DESCRIPTION:Event interval: Single day eventCampus room: SIG 134Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz\, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars \nTitle: Emergence of Moiré Excitons and Taco-Shaped Flat Bands in Twisted Transition Metal Dichalcogenides. \nAbstract: Moiré patterns of 2D van der Waals materials have proven to be an ideal platform to host unusual correlated electronic phases\, emerging magnetism\, and novel exciton physics. In this talk\, I will present state-of-the-art first-principles calculations revealing how structural reconstruction\, flat electronic bands\, and moiré localization collectively shape excitonic states in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures. These calculations uncover distinct excitonic states with different spatial and optical characteristics and provide microscopic design principles for tailoring excitonic properties in moiré materials. Our predictions have been validated through close collaborations with experiments including reflection contrast spectroscopy\, electron energy-loss spectroscopy\, and scanning tunneling spectroscopy.  Moiré physics in large twist angles have received relatively less attention since the K valley states are largely decoupled between layers at such angles and the superlattice exhibits minimal structural reconstruction. I will discuss our surprising discovery of a new kind of valley system in bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides twisted to a large magic angle\, where interlayer hybridization between like-spin Λ valleys generates extended\, spin-polarized flat bands with quasi-one-dimensional dispersion. These “taco"-shaped valleys form six anisotropic channels that interconnect across the moiré Brillouin zone\, exhibiting alternating spin polarization under sixfold rotation\, reminiscent of altermagnetic textures. The flat band shows a power-law divergent density of states due to its quasi-one-dimensional character\, enhancing the potential for correlated phases. A direct consequence of this flat band observed recently is the emergence of phonon-assisted intervalley absorption peaks in reflection contrast spectra measurements. \nBio: Mit Naik is an assistant professor in the physics department at the University of Texas at Austin working in the field of computational condensed matter physics and material science. His research particularly targets electronic and optical excitations in nanostructured quantum materials studied using first-principles electronic-structure calculations. He obtained his Ph.D. in physics at the Indian Institute of Science\, Bangalore\, and held a postdoctoral position at the University of California\, Berkeley.
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/mse-seminar-tbd-7/
CATEGORIES:Materials Science & Engineering
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260518T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260518T152000
DTSTAMP:20260525T102437
CREATED:20251212T223217Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260518T091526Z
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SUMMARY:MSE Seminar: Kayla Sprenger
DESCRIPTION:Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz\, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars \nTitle: Engineering Polymer Interfaces via Multiscale Modeling Across Sustainability and Health. \nAbstract: Plastic waste\, materials sustainability\, and biomaterial performance represent interconnected challenges that require molecular-level understanding across a wide range of polymer systems. In the Rationally Designed Immunotherapeutics and Interfaces (RDI) Lab\, we leverage multiscale computational approaches to interrogate and engineer polymer interfaces spanning applications across sustainability and health. Central to our work is the idea that molecular interactions at polymer interfaces govern macroscopic properties including degradation behavior\, catalytic reactivity\, material performance\, and biological response. This seminar will highlight how advanced in silico approaches\, including reactive molecular dynamics simulations and enhanced sampling methods\, can provide molecular-scale insight into complex polymer systems relevant to the plastics circular economy and next-generation biomaterials. First\, I will discuss our work investigating polymer/metal oxide interfaces relevant to catalytic plastics upcycling and hydrogenolysis\, with the goal of understanding how interfacial chemistry influences degradation pathways and catalytic reactivity for mixed plastic waste streams. I will then describe our efforts to investigate polymer/enzyme interfaces governing PET biodegradation\, including computational identification of mutations that may improve PET-degrading enzyme activity and stability. \nBeyond improving strategies for degrading existing plastics\, our lab is also focused on designing sustainable materials from the ground up. Accordingly\, a major focus of the talk will center on our investigations of biomatter-derived bioplastics composed of biologically derived components including proteins\, carbohydrates\, lipids\, and polymers. By integrating molecular simulations with collaborators’ experimental thermomechanical processing and spectroscopy data\, we seek to uncover how molecular composition and intermolecular interactions influence the emergent structure and properties of these sustainable materials. Finally\, I will briefly discuss how many of the same computational frameworks developed for sustainable polymer systems can be extended to biomedical polymer interfaces\, including polymer-protein bioconjugates and polymer-based coatings designed to stabilize proteins and mitigate inflammatory foreign body responses to implanted biomaterials. Collectively\, these studies showcase how multiscale modeling can accelerate rational engineering of polymer interfaces across applications spanning plastics circularity\, sustainable materials\, and health. \nBio: Kayla G. Sprenger\, Ph.D.\, is an Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Sprenger received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2017 from the University of Washington-Seattle with Dr. Jim Pfaendtner. Her Ph.D. was focused on the development and use of molecular simulation tools to study the structure and function of biomolecules at interfaces. She completed her postdoctoral studies in 2020 at MIT in the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science with Dr. Arup Chakraborty\, developing agent-based models of stochastic biological processes. Her lab at CU Boulder is now focused on utilizing multiscale computational approaches to understand and engineer interfaces for broad applications ranging from sustainable energy to health and medicine.
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/mse-seminar-robert-hickey/
CATEGORIES:Materials Science & Engineering
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260601T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260601T152000
DTSTAMP:20260525T102437
CREATED:20251212T223137Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260525T100025Z
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SUMMARY:MSE Seminar: Joe Falson
DESCRIPTION:Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz\, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars \nTitle: TBD \nAbstract: TBD \nBio: TBD
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/mse-seminar-joe-falson/
CATEGORIES:Materials Science & Engineering
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