Profile
Contact details
Evgeni S. Penev
Associate Research Professor
Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering – MS 325
6100 Main St, Houston, Texas 77005-1892
Summary of Interests
Collective phenomena in soft and hard condensed matter systems: hydrogen-bonding cooperativity in biomolecular systems and protein secondary structure formation, self-assembled quantum dots in semiconductor nanostructures for optoelectronic applications, conventional and high-temperature superconductivity.
Education
Ph.D. in Computational Materials Science
Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
Thesis: On the theory of surface diffusion in InAs/GaAs(001) heteroepitaxy (graduated summa cum laude)
M.S. in Solid State Physics
St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia, Bulgaria
Thesis: Persistent currents and interference effects in multichain mesoscopic rings
Awards
Otto Hahn Medal for outstanding scientific achievement (Max Planck Society, Germany )
Gold Medal for academic achievement (Mathematics and Natural Sciences High School, Shumen, Bulgaria)
Academic genealogy
E. Penev → (1)Peter Kratzer → (2)Wilhelm Brenig → (3)Werner Heisenberg → (4)Arnold Sommerfeld | (3) Richard Becker → (4)Max Planck
Work Experience
Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara
Research Scholar
-- coarse-grained models of lipid bilayers
-- hydrogen bonding and polypeptide energetics: force fields vs. DFT
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Basel University, Basel, Switzerland
Postdoctoral Assistant
-- Minima search algorithms
-- Protein folding
-- Empirical force fields, Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics
Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany
Graduate student (computational materials science, surface physics, density-functional theory)
-- Effect of strain on surface diffusion in semiconductor heteroepitaxy
-- Reconstructions of III-V (001) semiconductor surfaces
-- Surface stress and phase equilibria in InGaAs surface alloys
-- Quantum dot growth kinetics
-- Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations
-- H2 adsorption/desorption on Si(001)
Institute of Catalysis, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Research Assistant
-- Parameterization of model Hamiltonians
-- First-principles electronic structure calculations of metal-oxide clusters
-- Electronic structure of high-Tc superconducting materials
Center for Space Research & Technologies, St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia, Bulgaria
Research Fellow
-- Persistent currents in disordered mesoscopic rings
-- Electronic structure of high-Tc superconducting materials
Tutoring and Teaching Experience
MSNE 433/533: "Computational Materials Modeling", Spring 2010–present (Rice University)
CECAM Tutorial: "Kinetic Monte Carlo: From Phase Transitions and Crystal Growth to Econophysics" (Lyon, France, 2002)
"Application of Density-Functional Theory in Condensed-Matter Physics, Surface Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, and Biology" (Berlin, Germany, 2001, 2003)
"Total Energy and Force Methods and ab initio Molecular Dynamics" (Trieste, Italy, 1999)
"Computational Physics" (2004/2005, University of Basel, Switzerland)
"Introduction to Physics I for students in biology, geosciences and pharmacy" (2005, University of Basel, Switzerland)
Computing Skills
Software packages: molecular mechanics (LAMMPS , NAMD, TINKER, DYNAMO), ab initio quantum-mechanical calculations (QuantumEspresso, Abinit, VASP)
Programming Languages: Fortran 90/95, parallel programming (MPI), C/C++, UNIX shells, Tcl, Python, HTML
Operating Systems: UNIX (Linux, AIX, etc.)
Hardware Systems: commodity clusters, IBM Power4/5, Cray T3E, HP
Software Applications: Scientific computing/visualization tools (Mathematica, VMD, etc.); vector and raster graphics editors (GIMP, Inkscape, etc.); web design tools, typesetting systems (LaTeX, OpenOffice)