Susan Sinnott
American materials scientist and researcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Susan Buthaina Sinnott is professor and head of materials science and engineering at Pennsylvania State University.[1][2] Sinnott is a fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Physical Society (APS). She has served as editor-in-chief of the journal Computational Materials Science since 2014.
Iowa State University (PhD)
Susan Sinnott | |
|---|---|
Susan Sinnott in 2015 | |
| Born | Susan Buthaina Sinnott |
| Alma mater | University of Texas at Austin (BS) Iowa State University (PhD) |
| Awards | Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2010) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computational materials science Computational physics Computational chemistry[1] |
| Institutions | Pennsylvania State University University of Florida University of Kentucky United States Naval Research Laboratory |
| Thesis | Density functional studies: first principles and semi-empirical calculations of clusters and surfaces (1993) |
| Website | research |
Early life and education
Sinnott received a bachelors of science in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin.[3][4] She moved to Iowa State University for her graduate studies, and earned her doctoral degree in physical chemistry in 1993.[3]
Research and career
After graduating Sinnott moved to the United States Naval Research Laboratory where she worked on surface chemistry.[3][5]
After two years at the Naval Research Laboratory, Sinnott was appointed an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky.[7] In 2000 she was recruited to the University of Florida as an associate professor.[3] Sinnott was promoted to professor at the University of Florida in 2005, where she led projects on cyber infrastructure and quantum theory.[3] In 2015 Sinnott was appointed Head of Materials Science and Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University.[3][8][9]
Sinnott's research involves the development of computational methods to understand the electronic and atomic structure of materials.[1] Her computational models include continuum level modelling and fluid dynamics and take into account material behaviour at the nanoscale.[7] She has investigated the formation and role of grain boundaries, dopants, defects and heterogeneous interfaces.[10][11] Her research has considered perovskites, showing that the alignment or tilting of the perovskite oxygen cages impacts the materials properties.[12] Sinnott has served as editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Computational Materials Science since 2014.[10]
Her principal research interests at Penn State University include two-dimensional and nano-structured materials, gas adsorption and separation in porous solid materials, and condensed matter physics.[13]
Selected awards and honours
Her awards include:
- 2005 Elected a fellow of the American Vacuum Society[14]
- 2009 Distinguished editor of the Physical Review Letters[15]
- 2010 Elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science[16][17]
- 2011 Elected a fellow of the American Ceramic Society[14]
- 2012 Elected a fellow of the Materials Research Society[18]
- 2013 Elected a fellow of the American Physical Society[19]
- 2013 Top 25 Women Professors in Florida[20]
Selected publications
Her publications[1][2] include
- A second-generation reactive empirical bond order (REBO) potential energy expression for hydrocarbons[21]
- Model of carbon nanotube growth through chemical vapor deposition[22]
- Carbon nanotubes: synthesis, properties, and applications[23]
- Effect of chemical functionalization on the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes[24]
