Research

• • Soft Matter Theory and Simulation:

    Phase Transitions, Nucleation, crystal growth, wetting and interfacial phenomena

    Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations

    Thermodynamic Integration, Umbrella Sampling, Metadynamics, other free-energy based methods.

    Simulation of colloids and Liquid Crystals

    Computational Physics

• • Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics:

    Stochastic Processes in Physical Systems: Thermodynamics and Transport of Brownian Motors,  Stochastic Resonance, Noise Enhanced Stability, etc.

    Fluctuation theorems

    Theory and Simulations of Active Matter

    Polymer Translocation

Academic Positions

  2020-Present  PhD Research Guide (2020-2023) at CUSAT, Kochi, Kerala

  2018-2023        UGC Assistant Professor at Department of Physics, CUSAT, Kochi, Kerala

  2017-2018        Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at TIFR, Hyderabad, India

  2011-2016        Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Soft Matter, Theoretical Physics II, Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf,                                           Germany

  2009-2011        DAAD-DLR Postdoctoral Fellow at Institute of Materials Physics in Space, German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany

  2009                  Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

  2005-2008        Graduate Research Fellow, University of Alabama (UAB), USA

  2003-2005        Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Oregon at Eugene, USA

Publications

         1. Transport and current reversal in an Active Brownian ratchet driven by a time-dependent self-propulsion velocity, Ronald Benjamin. Indian Journal of Physics (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s12648-025-03749-z

       2. Noise-induced transport in a periodic square-well potential, Ronald Benjamin. Physica Scripta,  99 (9), 095257 (2024). 

DOI: 10.1088/1402-4896/ad6da9

        3. Optimal Transport conditions of a Run and Tumble Particle in a Ratchet potential. Arjun S R and Ronald Benjamin. DAE SSPS 2024 Conference Proceedings.

       4. Role of Interaction on the Performance of a Coupled Diffusion Brownian Motor. Ronald Benjamin. Book Chapter in Recent Trends in Applied Physics and Materials Science, CRC Press, Taylor and Francis (2025).

      5. Effective Diffusion and transport coherence in presence of inhomogeneous temperature: Piecewise linear potential - Ronald Benjamin, arXiv: 2211.04421 (2022).

      6. Current and diffusion of overdamped active Brownian particles in a ratchet potential - Arjun SR and Ronald Benjamin, arXiv: 2211.04298 (2022).

      7. Effect of roughness on the transport of an overdamped Brownian particle - Prathyusha S Nair and Ronald Benjamin, arXiv: 2211.03750

      8. Free energy cost of forming an interface between a crystal and its frozen version - R. Benjamin and J. Horbach, Physical Review E, 92, 042408 (2015).

      9. Crystal growth kinetics in Lennard-Jones and Weeks-Chandler-Andersen systems along the solid-liquid coexistence line- R. Benjamin and J. Horbach, J. Che, Phys., 143, 014702 (2015).

      10. Crystal-liquid interfacial free energy of hard spheres via a thermodynamic integration scheme - R. Benjamin and J. Horbach, Physical Review E 91, 032410 (2015).

      11. Excess free energy of supercooled liquids at disordered walls -R. Benjamin and J. Horbach, Phys. Rev E Rapid Communication 90, 060101(R) (2014).

      12. Crystal-liquid interfacial free energy via Thermodynamic Integration - R. Benjamin and J. Horbach, J. Chem. Phys., 141, 044715 (2014).

      13. Lennard-Jones systems near solid walls: Computing interfacial free energies from molecular simulation methods - R. Benjamin and J. Horbach, J. Chem. Phys., 139 , 084705 (2013).

      14. Wall-liquid and wall-crystal interfacial free energies via thermodynamic integration: A molecular dynamics simulation study - Ronald Benjamin and J. Horbach, J. Chem. Phys., 137 044707 (2012).

      15. Inertial effects in Buettiker-Landauer Motor and Refrigerator at the Overdamped Limit - R. Benjamin and R. Kawai, Phys. Rev. E, 77, 051132 (2008)

      16. Stochastic energetics of a Brownian motor and refrigerator driven by non-uniform temperature - R. Benjamin, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B, 28, 140055 (2014).

      17. Nucleation barriers for the liquid-to-crystal transition in simple metals: Experiment vs. simulation - J. Bokeloh, G Wilde, RE Rozas, R Benjamin, J Horbach, The European Physical Journal Special Topics 223 (3), 511-526 (2014). 

      18. On and off membrane dynamics of the endoplasmic reticulum–Golgi tethering factor p115 in vivo-E - Brandon, T Szul, C Alvarez, R Grabski, R Benjamin, R Kawai, E Sztul, Molecular biology of the cell 17 (7), 2996-3008 (2006).

Manuscripts in Preparation

• 1. Thermophysical properties of the Theta-Phase of the compound Al2Cu.

Select Invited and Contributed Talks 

• 1. Crystal-liquid interfacial free energy via Thermodynamic Integration-Soft Matter Conference, Cambridge, UK, 2014.

  2. Transport and Energetics of an Active Brownian Motor. ICETP 2025 International Conference held at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

  3. Performance of an Active Brownian particle in a ratchet potential driven by time-dependent self-propulsion velocity. MSMICFP 2023  Conference held at the University of Allahabad, UP, India. 

  4. Molecular simulation methods to compute interfacial free energies - DPG, 2014, Dresden

  5. Wall-liquid and wall-crystal interfacial free energies via Molecular Dynamics Simulation- SPP Meeting, Frankfurt, 2013

  6. Excess free energy of supercooled liquids near disordered walls- DPG 2013, Regensburg

  7. Interfacial free energies via non-equilibrium work and Gibbs-Cahn Integration- CompPhys12, Leipzig, 2012

  8. Interfacial free energies of Lennard-Jones particles near solid walls- CECAM Conference in Villars, Switzerland, 2013

  9. Efficiency optimization of a Brownian Motor driven by non-uniform temperature,  DPG 2012, Berlin.

  10. Molecular Dynamics Simulation of a Buettiker-Landauer Motor and Refrigerator, March 2008 Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

  11. Efficiency of an Active Brownian particle in a Ratchet potential. COMPFLU 2023 Conference held at IIT Madras.

Honours and Awards

• American Physical Society (APS) Travel Award for making oral presentation at APS meetings

• Outstanding Graduate Student Award - UAB Physics Department

• GATE Physics Exam (A GRE-Physics type  exam to select students in India for PhD and Master's positions at the prestigious IIT's) - All India Rank 10 (99.46 percentile)

• Awarded PhD Fellowships at TIFR, Mumbai, India; University of Southern California, USA; Montana State University, Bozeman, USA; Ohio University, Athens, USA; Wesleyan University, Connecticut, USA at several times

• JEST Physics ( A GRE-Physics type  exam to select students in India for PhD positions at Select Research Institutes of India) - 1st Rank in Entire State (97.5 percentile)

• CSIR-UGC JRF & L (A GRE General-cum GRE Physics type exam to select students for PhD and teaching positions at various Indian Institutions) - Qualified 3 times

• Awarded Postdoctoral Fellowships at IISC, Bangalore, India; IMSC, Chennai, India; SNBNCBS Calcutta, India; Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, India; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

• Awarded Graduate Student Scholarship by University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA

• Selected for UGCFRP Assistant Professorship by UGC, India 

• Selected as Assistant Professor (Senior, Level 12) at VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) in 2017

Media and Research Highlights

• My recent paper, “Transport and current reversal in an Active Brownian ratchet driven by a time-dependent self-propulsion velocity” (Indian Journal of Physics, 2025), was featured by Nanomotor Update (X/Twitter), which curates significant developments in nanomotor and active matter research. The feature recognized our contribution to understanding how time-dependent self-propulsion can induce transport enhancement and current reversal in active Brownian ratchets.