Finding interest and enjoyment in science as he attended a high-school chemistry class, Dr. Brian Barnes recalls, he began to realize the potential impact this field could have on his future and career.
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Barnes turned his visions into reality by first receiving a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He then went on to receive a doctorate in physical chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.
After receiving his doctorate, Barnes served in his first postdoctoral position at the Colorado School of Mines in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering's Center for Hydrate Research.
"While I was initially interested in experimental organic chemistry, I transitioned to computational physical chemistry after some undergraduate research experience," Barnes said. "Seeing an electrostatic potential isosurface around an organic molecule—that I created on a computer using a quantum mechanical method—for the first time was amazing. My doctorate work and first postdoc mostly involved simulations having many molecules, using the tools of statistical mechanics."
Barnes is currently a U.S. Army Research Laboratory postdoc computational researcher working in the Lethality Division's Energetic Materials Science Branch at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. His ARL mentor is Dr. John Brennan.
Barnes is involved in research efforts that are tied to multiscale reactive modeling of energetic material response.
"Our branch is in the Lethality Division, and we're focused on increasing explosive and propellant performance for the warfighter, which involves creating and characterizing novel materials and being able to accurately predict their physical properties and performance in large-scale applications," Barnes said.
Specifically, Barnes works on the predictive effort.
"If we can accurately predict detailed physical responses of energetic materials to insult over length and time scales that span many orders of magnitude, then we can help the warfighter through the improved and accelerated design of new materials or weapon systems," Barnes said.
The flagship project Barnes is working on is a collaborative endeavor involving hierarchical multiscale simulation and dissipative particle dynamics to predict the physical responses of energetic materials.
Through his work on these projects, which involves a significant amount of continuum-scale simulation, Barnes was able to attend Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian 3D, more commonly known as ALE3D, training at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which leads the nation in stockpile science and works to deliver solutions for the nation's most challenging security problems. What Barnes enjoys most about ARL is the collaborative culture the lab facilitates.
"Collaborating with experienced professionals whose daily efforts involve active research, and not teaching or searching for post-university positions, is a real culture change from academia that I appreciate at ARL," Barnes said. "There are also opportunities to work regularly with people who wouldn't be in your same academic department. That can be rare for young investigators in academia, and it's a nice change of pace. ARL is really about the quality of people you interact with each week."
Read full article at: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/222779/postdoc-spotlight-dr-brian-barnes
Related article: Physical Chemistry Help Online
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Barnes turned his visions into reality by first receiving a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He then went on to receive a doctorate in physical chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.
After receiving his doctorate, Barnes served in his first postdoctoral position at the Colorado School of Mines in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering's Center for Hydrate Research.
"While I was initially interested in experimental organic chemistry, I transitioned to computational physical chemistry after some undergraduate research experience," Barnes said. "Seeing an electrostatic potential isosurface around an organic molecule—that I created on a computer using a quantum mechanical method—for the first time was amazing. My doctorate work and first postdoc mostly involved simulations having many molecules, using the tools of statistical mechanics."
Barnes is currently a U.S. Army Research Laboratory postdoc computational researcher working in the Lethality Division's Energetic Materials Science Branch at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. His ARL mentor is Dr. John Brennan.
Barnes is involved in research efforts that are tied to multiscale reactive modeling of energetic material response.
"Our branch is in the Lethality Division, and we're focused on increasing explosive and propellant performance for the warfighter, which involves creating and characterizing novel materials and being able to accurately predict their physical properties and performance in large-scale applications," Barnes said.
Specifically, Barnes works on the predictive effort.
"If we can accurately predict detailed physical responses of energetic materials to insult over length and time scales that span many orders of magnitude, then we can help the warfighter through the improved and accelerated design of new materials or weapon systems," Barnes said.
The flagship project Barnes is working on is a collaborative endeavor involving hierarchical multiscale simulation and dissipative particle dynamics to predict the physical responses of energetic materials.
Through his work on these projects, which involves a significant amount of continuum-scale simulation, Barnes was able to attend Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian 3D, more commonly known as ALE3D, training at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which leads the nation in stockpile science and works to deliver solutions for the nation's most challenging security problems. What Barnes enjoys most about ARL is the collaborative culture the lab facilitates.
"Collaborating with experienced professionals whose daily efforts involve active research, and not teaching or searching for post-university positions, is a real culture change from academia that I appreciate at ARL," Barnes said. "There are also opportunities to work regularly with people who wouldn't be in your same academic department. That can be rare for young investigators in academia, and it's a nice change of pace. ARL is really about the quality of people you interact with each week."
Read full article at: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/222779/postdoc-spotlight-dr-brian-barnes
Related article: Physical Chemistry Help Online
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