Statistical Physics of Design: Materials to Macroscale

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My discovery grant program will develop new statistical physics based approaches for studying and identifying commonalities and basic phenomena among design problems that span microscopic details of nanostructured materials and macroscale objects and systems. Since 2015, my students and I have developed new approaches based on the statistical mechanics of extended ensembles to study problems in design. We introduced "Digital Alchemy" to achieve rational, inverse design in soft colloidal materials, and we introduced "Systems Physics" to elucidate basic phenomena in industrial design. We have shown that common mathematical and physical principles underlie design in nanometre sized particles and in ships hundreds of metres in size. Work in my group under this DG proposal will elucidate these principles in broader classes of materials and in complex systems. This program will lead to deeper understanding of fundamental challenges in design and open new forms of conversation between physics and engineering. My aims under this proposal are to: - Develop new means to promote reconfigurability, upgradability, and flexibility across a broad range of design problems, ranging from robust logistics networks to switchable nanomaterials. - Develop approaches to understand, quantify, and communicate how constraints affect decision making in complex systems. - Develop approaches for identifying and quantifying key design drivers across a range of problem types. - Develop open-source software that achieves the above aims for use by the broader community. - Continue to provide a training environment that uses a broad base of problem types to actively stimulate HQP to think about how research questions and themes stretch beyond their immediate work. My group will carry out this program by using the common approach of extended statistical ensembles. We will use these ensembles to re-frame design problems to reveal different levels of design freedom. We will study statistical descriptions of design problems from multiple perspectives and quantify the effects on decision making. We will study how moving between micro- and macroscopic descriptions of design problems influences understanding of problem specification, particularly on the interaction between subsystems. We will develop new computer simulation techniques, and new applications of tensor networks. This program will bring new techniques to the colloid science community in Canada, and will provide new tools and language to inform decision making in complex systems. These new techniques and tools can inform engineers in industry and at the Department of National Defence. I will provide 15 HQP with a rigorous, training in broadly applicable mathematical, computing, and data science techniques, and prepare them for a range of careers that leverage their advanced skills in industry and academia.