Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Chen Huang
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?: Prof. 
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): chuang3@fsu.edu
Position Title: Faculty
FSU College (if applicable): Arts and Sciences
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Department of Scientific Computing
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Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above): {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?: {Empty}
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): {Empty}
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable): {Empty}
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?: {Empty}
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Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: Density functional theory simulations of metals
Project Keywords: materials simulations, python, high-performance computing
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: No
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 1
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
Open to all majors 

Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: {Empty}
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: In-person
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 2-5 hours 
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
Alloys play a critical role in the industry, such as nickel and cobalt-based super-alloys utilized in jet engines. Computer simulations provide a powerful way for understanding and predicting alloy properties. Among many methods, orbital-free density functional theory (OF-DFT) is a highly promising method for large-scale alloy simulations. The accuracy of OF-DFT hinges upon two key elements: (a) the kinetic energy density functional and (b) the local pseudopotentials. In our group, we recently developed highly accurate local pseudopotentials for all metallic elements in the periodic table, which is a significant advancement toward OF-DFT simulations of large-scale alloys. The goal of this project is to assess the performance of these pseudopotentials. The students will (a) gain hands-on experience with material modeling utilizing DFT software, (b) learn how to work in a high-performance computing environment, and (c) write Python scripts to calculate material properties based on the results from DFT simulations.

Research Tasks:
The students will perform DFT simulations, gather data, and analyze the data using Python programming.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
No programming or computation experience is required. The student will be trained in this project. 

Mentoring Philosophy:
The goal of this project is to strengthen the student's ability to learn new skills (e.g., materials simulations, Python programming, computation), rather than pursuing a particular research objective. The mentor will support the student throughout this process. The student is encouraged to explore different aspects of the project. Embracing and learning from mistakes is highly encouraged. 

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable):: https://sites.google.com/site/huangfsu/research
Please add any additional information here (if applicable)::
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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes

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Year: 2023
update url: https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=-wsujsLbL8k_BwLLcNlfb_fI5U6EdsGkfCgoCbQs95M