The aim of the course is to give a basic knowledge of the principles and techniques of computational materials science. At the end of the semester, the students will be able to setup simple simulations to study atomic-scale material properties and to lay the foundations of a material design project; eventually, the students will gain the proper background to extend their academic formation with higher degree courses (such as PhD in Applied Physics, Materials Science or equivalent). It is especially the prospect of further project collaborations that should be seen as a big motivation for enrolling in this course. The students may also ask to apply for a semestral project to submit their thesis about a specific aspect of the course.
And, as associate professor Cammarata notes, “It is an opportunity to step into the forefront world-wide materials science environment; in fact, the students may be funded by our running grants to present their research in international conferences. This has already been the case of Matúš Kaintz, an MSc student who worked on his thesis under my supervision: he delivered a talk at the American Physical Society March meeting (Chicago, 2022), the largest physics conference in the world. Matúš published a scientific article immediately after his thesis defense.”
Associate Professor Antonio Cammarata, with a PhD in Physics from the Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italy), joined Drexel University (USA) as a post-doctoral researcher and recitation instructor. His journey at FEE CTU began in 2014, starting as a post-doc researcher and advancing to an assistant professor. Since June 2023, he serves as an Associate Professor at the same department, specializing in ab-initio investigations of nanostructured materials, and teaching “Solid State Physics” courses for BSc, MSc and PhD students. His contributions include phonon-phonon scattering selection rules and a new lattice-dynamic metric named "cophonicity".
For more information about the course, please contact him directly at cammaant@fel.cvut.cz.
