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Original work in partial fulfillment of a graduate degree in the School of Physics.

### Recent Submissions

• #### Discovering Governing Equations from Noisy and Incomplete Data ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-07)
Partial differential equations (PDEs) provide macroscopic descriptions of systems in many disciplinesthroughout physical science, such as for fluid flows. With increasingly vast amounts of data becoming avail-able ...
• #### Spatiotemporal Tiling of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-06)
Motivated by space-time translational invariance and exponentially unstable dynamics, spatiotemporally chaotic' or turbulent' flows are recast as a (D+1)-dimensional spatiotemporal theory which treats space and time ...
• #### Strong-Field Numerical Relativity in the Era of Gravitational Wave Astronomy ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-11-19)
The success of numerical relativity and gravitational wave detectors have paired to provide us with the opportunity to study Einstein’s theory of general relativity in the strongest gravitational regimes. With future ...
• #### Controlling Mechanical Response in Metamaterials via Topological States of Matter ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-08-18)
Flexible metamaterials are defined by repeating structural patterns that permit them to possess exciting elastic properties, such as robust, programmable soft deformations. In recent years, they have profited from topological ...
• #### Energetic Versatility of Muscle ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-08-21)
Muscle in an incredibly versatile, active, soft, crystalline material which makes it very unique. It is ubiquitous in animals across many scales, enabling a diverse range of locomotion types and mechanical functions, capable ...
• #### Neutron Scattering and Quantitative Modeling of Magnetic Excitations in Frustrated Materials ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-11-06)
The basic theme of my Ph.D. research is understanding exotic magnetic phases of matter and investigate their collective low-energy excitations using neutron-scattering and quantitative modeling. In this thesis, I start ...
• #### Unraveling Nanoscale Thermal Transport in Multilayered Semiconductors ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-09-09)
A thorough comprehension and control of thermal transport in nanoscale thermoelectric, microelectronic and optoelectronic devices is crucial since it is paramount to their optimum performance. The fundamental understanding ...
• #### Emergent Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics from Death and Birth in Biofilms ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-10-04)
This thesis experimentally explores the statistical mechanics which emerge in the study of bacterial biofilms, highly nonequilibrium communities in which a vast number of bacteria make their homes, and which are of tremendous ...
• #### Universal bound states of two- and three-body quantum systems ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-07-27)
When there is a low-energy resonance between two particles, the typical separation of physical length scales no longer holds, and quantum systems can form states that are much larger on average than the characteristic size ...
• #### Two-dimensional phases of silicon on silicon carbide ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-07-14)
2D materials have been widely studied since single layer graphene, a 2D atomic honeycomb structure with unusual electronic properties, was obtained. Graphene grown on SiC by thermal decomposition is of interest because of ...
• #### Mechanics of fire ant aggregations: An experimental study of active matter ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-07-17)
Fire ant aggregations are inherently active materials. Each ant converts its own stored energy into motion, and it is these motions that contribute to the bulk material properties of the aggregation. However, the level of ...
• #### Spatial interactions and eco-evolutionary games ﻿

Organisms compete for limited resources to reproduce. Reproduction depends on behaviors that are modified by abiotic and biotic factors, including the behavior of other organisms. This thesis adopts and extends evolutionary ...
• #### Emergent behavior in complicated systems: Tinnitus, smarticles, and metronomes ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-04-22)
Patterns of behavior can arise in many body systems that are qualitatively different than that of the individual elements. In this dissertation, we explore emergent behaviors through three different projects. The first is ...
• #### Leakage mitigation and correction techniques for topological surface codes ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-03-16)
A large scale quantum computer would be able to solve many problems that remain intractable for modern classical computers. In order to build such a machine, the quantum system must be protected from environmental influences ...
• #### Edge state characterization of epitaxial graphene nanoribbons and modifications of the electrical structure of buffer graphene after aluminum oxide deposition ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-02-11)
Graphene attracted a great deal of public interest because of its novel electrical characteristics, structural integrity, high electron mobility, and most important for my work, it was shown to be a room temperature ballistic ...
• #### Transforming the preparation of physics graduate teaching assistants ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-12-02)
Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are key partners in the education of undergraduate students. In large-enrollment intro physics classes, students spend roughly half of their in-class hours in labs and recitations under ...
• #### Molecular transport into the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-01-15)
This thesis details novel insights gleaned from the application of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to two protein systems, the $\beta$-barrel assembly machinery (BAM), and the lipopolysaccharide transport machinery ...
• #### Pushing the cell envelope: Simulations at the gram-negative cellular interface ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-01-15)
Computational simulations of bacterial membrane systems were performed in silico using molecular dynamics to describe the function and interaction of integral, membrane-spanning proteins with their native environment. This ...
• #### Limbless locomotion in complex terrestrial terrain ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-01-15)
Limbless locomotion is used by animals ranging from micro to macroscopic to move in a wide variety of terrains. Snakes in particular use their elongate bodies to swim in water, climb trees, burrow into sand and soil, crawl ...
• #### Understanding protein folding and assembly at the outer membrane of pathogenic gram-negative bacteria ﻿

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05-21)
Antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria is quickly becoming a global pandemic, responsible for approximately two million illnesses and almost 23,000 deaths annually in the United States alone according ...