Introduction

Our research group focuses on the design of materials and devices through the development of a fundamental understanding of the solid state physics of the individual phases, their short and long range interactions, and its associated microstructural evolution. The aim is to provide guidelines that will lead to experiments and processing operations with improved properties, performance, and reliability.  We integrate computational approaches ranging from kinetic Monte Carlo, phase field and level set methods, to finite elements, finite volumes, and symbolic computing. Home-grown analytical theories and algorithms are constantly developed to resolve the relevant time and length scales. Of importance to our research are microstructure design, crystallographic texture, and grain boundary science and engineering, aimed to control the topology of the underlying phases and thus establish practical relations between processing, microstructure, and material properties. Fundamental areas of research include the prediction of equilibrium and kinetic properties in ferroelectric ceramics (in thin-film and bulk form, for both lead-containing and lead-free systems), electrochemical properties and interactions between charged point defects and grain boundaries, granular mixing and dynamics of dry and wet systems, and the generalities of microstructural evolution.