Research Director
Emily A. Carter
Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering &
Applied and Computational Mathematics
Professor Carter holds a joint appointment as the Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics. She is also an associated faculty member in the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering (PICSciE), Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM)
BACKGROUND
Prof. Carter is a theorist first known for her work combining ab initio quantum chemistry with dynamics and kinetics, especially as applied to surface chemistry. More recently, she merged quantum mechanics, applied mathematics, and solid state physics in her linear scaling orbital-free density functional theory (OF-DFT) that now handles tens to hundreds of thousands of atoms quantum mechanically, her embedded configuration interaction (ECI) and ab initio DFT+U theories that combine quantum chemistry with periodic DFT to treat electronic excited states and strongly correlated materials, and her linear scaling multi-reference CI method for molecules. She also has constructed quantum-based multiscale simulations of the mechanical response of materials. For the last decade or so, her applications focus has been to determine how materials fail due to chemical and mechanical effects (e.g., corrosion and stress), and how to optimally protect these materials against failure (e.g., by doping, alloying, or coating). At present, she is turning her attention toward materials design for energy applications, including exploring novel materials for solar energy conversion to electricity and water splitting, metal alloy design for fusion reactor walls, and optimization of lightweight metal alloys to improve vehicle fuel efficiency.
Prof. Carter received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1982 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Caltech in 1987. After working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder for a year, she spent the next 16 years on the faculty of UCLA as a Professor of Chemistry and later of Materials Science and Engineering. She moved to Princeton University in 2004 as Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Applied and Computational Mathematics. She also holds courtesy appointments in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and two interdisciplinary institutes (PICSciE and PRISM). In 2006, she was named Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor. The author of over 200 publications, she has delivered over 350 invited lectures all over the world and serves on numerous advisory boards spanning a wide range of disciplines.
FEATURED HONORS
· 2009 Member, International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science (www.iaqms.org)
· 2008 Member, National Academy of Sciences (www.nationalacademies.org)
· 2008 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (www.amacad.org)
· 2008 Welch Distinguished Lecturer
· 2008 Coulson Lecturer, University of Georgia
· 2008 Kivelson Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles
· 2007 American Chemical Society Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research
· 2004 Fellow of the Institute of Physics
· 2000 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
· 1998 Fellow of the American Physical Society
· 1996 Dr. Lee Visiting Research Fellow in the Sciences, Christ Church , Oxford University
· 1995 Peter Mark Memorial Award, American Vacuum Society
· 1995 Fellow of the American Vacuum Society
· 1993 Medal of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science