New assistant professor in our team - Andrea Giuntoli

As of October 1st, 2021 Dr. Andrea Giuntoli will join the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials as tenure-track assistant professor Multiscale modelling of multifunctional supramolecular materials. Andrea has a background in physics/theoretical physics and did his BSc, MSc, and PhD in Pisa. After his PhD he spent one postdoc-year at NIST with Jack Douglas and then moved to Northwestern University for a Postdoc with Prof. Sinan Keten.

Andrea's expertise is in Molecular Dynamics simulations of polymer materials and composites, both in bulk and in thin films (including physics of the interfaces).

With his simulations, he is able to explore variations in polymer chemistry, composition, architecture, crosslinking, etc. at the molecular level and predict the dynamics and mechanical behavior of the material (modulus, ductility, viscoelasticity, fracture, adhesion, etc...).

This is not only useful in an academic setting, but also with respect to real life applications, to test the performance of new materials in development in a fast and inexpensive way, since computer simulations can quickly test a wide design space with limited cost in time, equipment, and material.

Additionally, Andrea is specialized in the creation of chemistry-specific coarse-grained models and has access to a range of models such as PMMA, Polycarbonate, poly(cathecol)styrene, epoxy resins, etc. His dynamically accurate coarse-grained models have an edge compared to traditional simulations, as they can explore larger systems and longer timescales, which is usually the bottleneck of simulations, and may therefore also be interesting for industrial collaborations.

With his new group Andrea will focus on functionalized branched polymers, like stars or bottlebrushes. These architectures are promising for new applications as 3D-printing materials, adhesives, pressure-sensitive capacitors, or drug delivery (to name a few). Welcome, Andrea!