Welcome to the Eaves Group

Our Scientific Approach - Our group develops theory and simulation to deduce the conceptual and quantitative rules that govern the behavior of complex physical systems. Our primary approach lies in the construction of physically intuitive models that reduce complex behaviors into simple but calculable pieces, uniting modelling traditions in condensed matter and statistical physics with theoretical and computational chemistry. Students who excel in our group come from a diverse set of educational backgrounds, including applied math, chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, and materials science. Because our research lies at the interface between chemistry and physics, many of our graduate students join the chemical physics Ph.D. program. We work closely with collaborators within the chemistry and physics departments and at other universities. We advance theory to interpret the results of current experiments and motivate new ones. Because we are interested in many problems that have remained resistant to existing methods, our work often demands the creation of new tools or new approaches involving existing tools.

The questions that motivate us often probe the fundamental behaviour of nature, while connecting to societal concerns, i.e. diminishing natural resources and climate change. One broad example is our interest in interfacial transport processes at the microscale, such as photon upconversion and energy harvesting. We also aim to reduce the energy consumption of quantum technology. With the help of many collaborators, we leverage a unique chemical synthesis viewpoint on a superconductor-dominant field. Yet another example is the fascinating dynamics of water, important in water desalination, brown carbon, and exploring our universe. These examples merely scratch the surface of the extensive array of questions our group has undertaken in both current and past pursuits.

Outside of the Research Bubble - Our group highly values opportunities to both learn and become better scientists as well as mentor the next generation of scientists. We regularly participate in 'supergroup' meetings with our fellow theoretical groups in the department. These meetings provide a forum for members to practice presenting their work or other scientific ideas and engage in literature discussions with a knowledgeable audience. Additionally, seniors students often eventually work directly with collaborators with little oversight, preparing them to eventually manage their own collaborations. We advocate for graduate students to serve as teaching assistants or tutors for some portion of time, recognizing the adage that "when we teach, we learn". Lastly, we promote outreach efforts such as PISEC, which focuses on local K-12 groups underrepresented in STEM.