Dr Berk Onat has joined WCPM as a postdoc working with Dr James Kermode within the Horizon 2020 NOMAD Center of Excellence on materials informatics. He will be extending the capabilities of the NOMAD repository to a range of classical molecular dynamics codes as well as developing machine learning tools to exploit the resulting data. Welcome Berk!

A postdoc position is available in the Warwick Centre for Predictive Modelling to work in the group of Dr James Kermode as part of the Horizon 2020 Novel Materials Discovery (NOMAD) Centre of Excellence. Key objectives are to extend the functionality of the NOMAD repository for classical molecular dynamics codes.

The job will address aspects of materials modelling related to data generation, curation and inference, particularly with the aim of developing useful “Big Data Analytics” protocols for structure and property prediction via machine learning algorithms. Specific objectives are (a) completing the force-field-specific metadata, following the scheme of the NOMAD meta-information; (b) writing parsers for a number of force-field-based codes.

Candidates must have a PhD in physics, chemistry, materials science or a related subject, experience with classical molecular dynamics using standard codes such as LAMMPS or GROMACS and strong scientific software development skills using C, Fortran or Python. Experience with machine learning and/or first principles simulation approaches such as density functional theory would be an advantage.

Please contact Dr Kermode for informal enquires, see his website for more details or apply here.

The position is available from 1 March 2017 for 12 months in the first instance and may be extendable subject to mutual agreement and available funding. The closing date for applications is 18 Jan 2017.

A postdoc position is available in the Warwick Centre for Predictive Modelling to work in the group of Dr James Kermode as part of the EPSRC-funded project “Predictive Modelling of the Fundamentals of Fracture in Metals” (EP/P002188/1).

Key objectives of the project are to develop methodology that allows energy barriers for rare events to be computed with quantum mechanical precision in systems containing millions of atoms using a multiscale QM/MM framework, and to apply this new methodology to predict rates for activated materials failure processes in representative systems such as dislocation motion, crack growth, and crack tip dislocation emission in nickel, aluminium and tungsten. Relevant publications include Kermode et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 115, 135501 (2015) and Kermode et al., Nature, 455, 1224-1227 (2008).

Candidates must have a PhD in physics, chemistry, materials science or a related subject, experience with first principles methods at the level of density functional theory and strong scientific software development skills using C, Fortran or Python. Experience with classical molecular dynamics and/or rare events techniques such as nudged elastic band would be an advantage.

Please contact Dr Kermode for informal enquires, see his website for more details or apply here.

The position is available from 1 March 2017 for 12 months in the first instance and may be extendable subject to mutual agreement and available funding. The closing date for applications is 18 Jan 2017.