Corwin is a chemical engineer and research software developer. He has experience in both experimental and computational research, picking up new lab techniques or software packages to support his work.
He recently finished his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In the Glotzer Lab, he used molecular dynamics simulations to study strategies to actuate and control crystals made out of colloidal particles. He also contributes to open source software projects on scientific data management.
Previously, he obtained his B.S. in chemical engineering and a minor in mathematics from NC State University. In the experimental Abolhasani Lab, he developed a sensor for a microfluidic reactor to help measure how mixing affects the growth of quantum dots.
In his free time he enjoys biking, cooking, and gardening. His favorite colloidal system is espresso.
Dissertation Research
Crystals are repeating structures that are generally thought of as rigid, so how can they bend?
When moving a large carpet across the floor, it takes too much energy to move all at once, but lifting and shaking one edge propagates the ripple which gradually shifts the carpet. The ripple is a defect in the arrangement in the carpet.
The analogous defect in crystals is the dislocation. By controlling dislocations, we can selectively control the deformation of a colloidal crystal. In his thesis, he showed how the interaction of dislocations can be used to encode simple computation (Boolean logic) within a 2D colloidal crystal. This research opens up a path towards programming the actuation of colloidal crystals.