IRES Track I: International Research Experience for Students in Computational Nanoscience

纳米科学是现代研究中最令人兴奋的领域之一，它涵盖了物理学、工程学、化学、医学和健康等整个科学领域。计算纳米科学通过使用新颖的计算方法来解决实际问题，解决了这一快速发展领域的挑战。该项目的主要目标是为学生创造国际研究机会，并使他们沉浸在创造性的计算纳米科学项目中。通过国际研究经验，学生将成为新一代计算科学家的一部分，作为工业、学术界和政府实验室的研究人员，对材料科学、物理和化学领域的突出问题进行建模。为了实现这一目标，学生将在计算建模的理论和实践方面进行培训，并通过参与国际研究环境中的计算项目来进一步发展他们的专业发展。国际研究框架将允许学生通过基础（数学、物理、计算工具、材料科学和计算机科学）和应用方面的教育，成为计算建模的实践者和创新者。学生将有机会在日本领先的研究中心（筑波科学城）、世界著名的国家实验室（RIKEN）和最好的大学（东京大学）进行研究，并将有机会使用世界上最好的超级计算机。此外，学生们将接触到日本多方面的文化、传统、历史和自然美景。提出的研究为学生提供了广泛的训练机会，涵盖物理，电气工程，材料科学，量子力学模拟，高性能计算和新型计算算法。拟议的国际合作将为学生提供无与伦比的研究环境，使他们从国际讲台上接触到科学挑战和技术创新的前沿。这些项目将通过利用范德比尔特-菲斯克桥项目和积极招募少数族裔学生来鼓励代表性不足的群体参与。学生们还将了解日本丰富的文化和历史。东道国日本团体不仅可能从研究成果中受益，还可能从国际文化交流和经验中受益。美国学生将使用新颖的原子量子力学方法研究纳米材料中电子和离子动力学的时间依赖性模拟。这些研究将是时间相关第一原理量子力学计算在描述电磁场与物质相互作用、电子传递和散射以及超冷原子物理学方面的前沿应用。这些模拟结果将对评价探索材料科学新领域的实验有价值。在与日本研究小组的合作中，VU的研究人员开发了一种线性缩放原子方法来模拟分子、固体和纳米结构在随时间变化的外场中的随时间变化行为。该方法允许在包含数千个原子的系统中模拟电子和离子动力学，通过耦合随时间变化的麦克斯韦方程和薛定谔方程来结合电磁场的影响。学生将使用这些电脑模拟工具研究不同的系统，包括固体中的高次谐波产生、激光脉冲与二维材料的相互作用、圆偏振光对分子的电离和破碎、电子和生物分子的低能量散射，以及其他有趣的案例。学生还将开发和测试新的计算方法，以提高量子模拟的速度和准确性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nanoscience is one of the most exciting areas of modern research stretching across the whole spectrum of science including: physics, engineering, chemistry, medicine and health. Computational Nanoscience addresses the challenges of this rapidly evolving field by using novel computational methods to tackle practical problems.The main objective of this project is to create international research opportunity for students and immerse them in creative computational nanoscience projects. Through the international research experience, students will become part of a new generation of computational scientists modeling outstanding problems in materials science, physics and chemistry as researchers in industry, academia, and government labs. To achieve this, students will be trained in both theoretical and practical aspects of computational modeling, and further their professional development through participation in computational projects in an international research environment. The international research framework will allow students to be practitioners and innovators in computational modeling by educating them in both fundamentals (mathematics, physics, computational tools, material science and computer science) and applications. The students will have opportunity to do research in Japan's leading research center (Tsukuba Science City), world renowned National Lab (RIKEN) and best university (University of Tokyo) and will have access to the world's best supercomputers. In addition, the students will be exposed to Japan's multifaceted culture, traditions, history and natural beauty.The proposed research presents broad training opportunities for students overarching physics, electrical engineering, material science, quantum mechanical simulations, high performance computing, and novel computational algorithms. The proposed international collaborationwill provide an unparalleled research environment for students, exposing them to the forefront of scientific challenges and technological innovations from an international podium. The projects will encourage the participation of underrepresented groups by leveraging the Vanderbilt-Fisk bridge program and by actively recruiting minority students. The students will also be introduced into therich culture and history of Japan. The host Japanese groups will also likely to benefit not only from the research outcomes but through the international cultural exchange and experience.The US students will pursue time-dependent simulations of electron and ion dynamics in nanomaterials using novel atomistic quantum mechanical approaches. These investigations will be frontier applications of time-dependent first-principles quantum mechanical calculations to describe interaction of electromagnetic fields and matter, electron transport and scattering and physics of ultracold atoms. The results of these simulations will be valuable in evaluating the experiments probing new frontiers of material science.In collaboration with Japanese research groups, researchers from VU have developed a linear scaling atomistic approach to simulate the time-dependent behavior of molecules, solids, and nanostructures in time-dependent external fields. The approach allows for the simulation of electron and ion dynamics in systems containing thousands of atoms, incorporating the effect of electromagnetic fields by coupling the time-dependent Maxwell and Schrodinger equations. The participating students will use these computer simulations tools to study various systems, including high harmonics generation in solids, interaction of laser pulses and 2D materials, ionization and fragmentation of molecules by circularly polarized light, low energy scattering of electrons and biomolecules, and other interesting cases. The students will also develop and test novel computational approaches to increase the speed and accuracy of quantum simulations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.