Renata Wentzcovitch
Renata M. M. Wentzcovitch | |
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| Nationality | Brazilian, American, Italian |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Materials science Condensed matter physics Chemistry Geosciences |
| Institutions | Columbia University Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory |
| Website | Vlab |
Renata Maria Mattosinho Wentzcovitch is a Brazilian/Italian American physicist. She was born in Campinas (SP) and grew up in the ABC region on the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil. She is a faculty member of the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics[1] and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences[2] at Columbia University. She is also a senior staff scientist at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University.[3] Before joining the Columbia University faculty, she worked for the University of Minnesota. She was a faculty member in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and a member of the graduate faculties in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chemical Physics Program, and Computational Science Program. Her research focuses on developing and applying materials simulation methods at extreme pressure and temperature conditions, especially planet-forming materials. She is currently Vice-President of the Mineral and Rock Physics Section of the American Geophysical Union.[4][5]
Education[edit]
She holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Physics from the University of São Paulo in Brazil and a Ph.D in Condensed Matter Physics from UC-Berkeley, where she worked under the supervision of Marvin L. Cohen. She was a post-doctoral associate jointly at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Physics Department at Stony Brook University from 1989-1992, a post-doctoral associate at the Theory of Condensed Matter Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, UK, from 1992-1993, and a Research Fellow at the Department of Geological Sciences, University College London, and the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London, UK (1993-94).
Research[edit]
Wentzcovitch and her group research materials properties at extreme conditions of planetary interiors primarily for geophysics and planetary science applications.[6] Some of her early ab initio molecular dynamics simulation methods have been implemented in the Quantum ESPRESSO package. She pioneered ab initio calculations of thermodynamic properties at extreme conditions using the quasiharmonic approximation, which is essential for their applications in mineral physics and geophysics. She was the founding director of the Virtual Laboratory for Earth and Planetary Materials (2004),[6] a cyberinfrastructure for high-throughput computations of mineral properties at extreme conditions. In particular, the calculations of materials' thermoelastic properties and acoustic velocities are used to interpret seismic tomographic images. She collaborates closely with seismologists, geodynamicists, and geochemists to investigate Earth’s and other planet’s internal structure and dynamics.[7]
Awards and honors[edit]
- President-Elect (2023-24), President (2025-26), Past-President (2027-2028), Mineral and Rock Physics Section, American Geophysical Union [5]
- Vice-Chair, Chair-Elect, Chair, Past-Chair, Division of Computational Physics, American Physical Society (2017-20) [8]
- Wilhelm Heraeus Visiting Professorship Award, University of Frankfurt (2015-16)
- Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013-) [9]
- Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science (Physics) (2012-) [10]
- Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America (2009-) [11]
- Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2008-) [12]
- Fellow, American Physical Society, Division of Materials Physics (2006-)
- Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for Senior US Scientists (2008) [13]
- Japan Society for Progress of Science (JSPS), Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan (2008)
- Shell Land-Grant Professor in Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of Minnesota (1994-95)
- Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK (1993-94)
References[edit]
- ^ Renata M. M. Wentzcovitch, Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, 4 April 2017, retrieved 2019-05-09
- ^ Renata M. M. Wentzcovitch, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- ^ Renata M. M. Wentzcovitch, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
- ^ About - Mineral and Rock Physics, American Geophysical Union
- ^ a b 2022 AGU Elections, Renata Wentzcovitch, American Geophysical Union
- ^ a b Virtual Laboratory for Earth and Planetary Materials, Vlab
- ^ Quantum phase transition detected deep inside the Earth, Physics World
- ^ About DCOMP, American Physical Society
- ^ Renata M. M. Wentzcovitch, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, retrieved 2019-05-09
- ^ AAAS Members Elected as Fellows, American Association For the Advancement of Science
- ^ Fellow List of Mineralogical Society of America, Mineralogical Society of America
- ^ Renata Wentzcovitch, American Geophysical Union
- ^ Prof. Dr. Renata M. Wentzcovitch, Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation
External links[edit]
- Renata Wentzcovitch publications indexed by Google Scholar
| Authority control databases: Academics |
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- Living people
- Brazilian physicists
- University of California, Berkeley alumni
- University of Minnesota faculty
- Columbia University faculty
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Fellows of the American Physical Society
- Fellows of the American Geophysical Union
- Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science