Leo Beck
- CU BOULDER
Project Summary:
Working with the NOMAD database
CU Boulder Supervisor: Hendrik Heinz
IRES Supervisor: Claudia Draxl
Biography:
I am from Charlotte, NC, but have lived in both Carolinas throughout my life. I got my bachelors in materials science & engineering and mathematics at Clemson University. While there, I did research fabricating organic memristors, calculating point defect energies of high entropy alloys using DFT, and performing biobjective optimization of 4th order PDEs. Additionally, I was a member of Clemson’s Formula SAE team for 4 years.
I recently received my masters in materials science & engineering from CU Boulder. I am continuing as a PhD student in the materials science & engineering program in Prof. Hendrik Heinz’s lab at CU Boulder. My research is primarily focused on using molecular dynamics (specifically the Interface Force Field) to simulate semiconductor materials.
My main project is running LAMMPS simulations to calculate formation energies and key structural descriptors on hybrid organic inorganic perovskites (HOIPs). In particular, I am looking into various 1D, 2D, and quasi-2D HOIPs formed with halogenated versions of alpha-methylbenzylammonium as the organic molecule.
The second project I am working on involves running NAMD simulations to determine binding energies and binding mechanisms of protonated dopamine on the surface of MXene sheets. In my free time, I like to hike / trail run, climb, read, and play games with friends.