Understanding the adsorption and wetting properties of molecules on solid surfaces is central to many scientific and technological challenges. Fundamental studies of the interaction between molecular films and surfaces are extremely valuable for developing synthetic methods to produce novel materials with specific functionality in such areas as gas separation, energy conversion, lubrication, catalysis and environmental remediation.

Soft materials are indispensable building blocks in a wide variety of advanced materials. While it owes its name to its soft mechanical properties, the microscopic mechanisms controlling its flow and deformation have remained poorly understood to date. The imposed external deformation on a soft material drives its microstructure away from the equilibrium state and leads to complicated viscoelastic responses. A lucid fundamental understanding of the deformation behavior of soft matter at the molecular level is crucial for the prediction and manufacture of new materials.

Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) have been actively studied for their potential applications as a new generation of data storage materials. Chemical qubits are of intense interest for quantum computing. For SMMs, each molecule behaves as a magnet with a barrier for spin reversal. Heights of the barriers and spin-phonon couplings, leading to magnetic relaxation, are critical to the performance of SMMs. Spin-phonon couplings also play an important role in qubits.

Quantum materials encompass a vast array of materials whose properties can only be explained by quantum rules. Contemporary research has developed from a nexus of topology, quantum field theory, quantum information science combined with advances in materials’ science. Quantum materials could have fundamental and far reaching impact on technology.

During an introductory nuclear physics course her sophomore year, Elizabeth Mae Scott developed a need to understand things from their most basic, original structure. The course showed her how math becomes a language that physicists use to describe the world around them.