More About Myself

Graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1987 with a Ph. D. in Physics, I worked for one and a half years at the Materials Research Laboratory of Penn State as a Research Associate to study high Tc superconductors and martensitic phase transitions focusing on the domain structures and domain wall properties. In 1989, I went to The Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University for one year to further pursue theoretical study on martensitic phase transitions and to study the effects of defect inclusions. In 1990 I came back to Penn State as a research faculty and continued the quest on modeling of domain pattern formations in ferroic systems, particularly in ferroelectric materials. My joint appointment with the Mathematics Department started in the fall of 1995.

Doing interdisciplinary research, I am affiliated with several departments: Mathematics, Bioengineering, Materials and The Materials Research Laboratory of Penn State. I am also involved in three industrial centers: the NIH Center for Medical Ultrasonic Transducer Engineering, the International Center for Actuators and Transducers, and the Center for Dielectric Studies.

My involvement with experimental research includes: crystal growth, elastic constant measurements on single crystals and ceramics using ultrasonic method, optical microscopy, acoustic emission, electrical and structural characterization of ferroelectric ceramics, and fabrication and characterization of piezocomposite transducers.

Over the past eight years, my primary effort has been on theoretical research. There are two major areas for my research effort. The first is the modeling of the microstructures of martensites and ferroelectrics. Continuum models, such as The Landau-Ginzburg type of models are constructed and and used to simulate the domain pattern formation and the domain dynamics. The modeling of domain pattern formation involves the analysis of nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations, and the development of fast computational algorithm. Another area of interest is the application of finite element method in the design of medical ultrasonic transducers and piezoelectric actuators.

My group also has an ultrasonic laboratory, which is equipped with the state of the art computer controlled material characterization capabilities. We can determine complete set of linear elastic coefficients matrix for all solid materials, including piezoeletric materials and composites. In addition, we can also measure the frequency dispersion of elastic properties and ultrasonic attenuation up to 110 MHz. Recently, we have also implemented the capability to measure the nonlinear (third order and fourth order) elastic coefficients.


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