The Van der Ven research group seeks to advance our ability to design and control new materials by developing first-principles statistical mechanics methods that link the macroscopic behavior of matter to electronic structure. We focus in particular on understanding and predicting finite temperature phase stability, non-dilute diffusion, phase transformation mechanisms, electrochemical behavior and mechanical properties all as a function of temperature and chemistry.
We apply our computational tools to study the thermodynamic, kinetic and mechanical properties of a wide range of materials classes (metal alloys, oxides, sulfides, etc.) used in energy storage and conversion devices and in aerospace and automotive applications.
The Van der Ven group is part of a strong computational science and engineering cluster within the Materials Department, which also encompasses the Van de Walle, Dai, McMeeking, Beyerlein and Begley groups.