Shaista Ahmad

Hello Visitor!
Welcome to my home page. This will mainly tell you about my academic background, research work and areas of interest. Thanks for stopping by!

Educational and Research

I have completed a postdoc from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, PA (Nov 2013). I had completed a joint PhD in Physics from the School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, in July 2012. 

At present I am winding up a simulation based study to investigate effects of quenched disorder on phase separating fluids, with my PhD thesis advisor at JNU.

 

Research Details:

My research focusses on areas in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. I use computer simulation methods, mainly Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics, to study systems in both equilibrium as well as systems in non-equilibrium.

Using these techniques extensively, I have performed large scale simulations of fluids, alloys and polymers (at the atomistic level). Most of the codes for simulation and analysis were developed many codes for all the problems during my PhD and postdoc. We completed two problems on kinetics of phase separation in fluids. In another work with a group in Italy, we focused on the aging phenomena in the fluid-fluid domain coarsening. I have also worked on a problem with my thesis supervisors, where we study the effects of quenched disorder on phase-separating fluids. Other than these, I have been a part of a problem on finite-size effects and have also worked on some phase-ordering problems in liquid crystals, in collaboration with a group at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

Please look at my linkedin profile for more details of my research. A list of my publications is available at my research gate profile.

Previous Works:

  • Monte-Carlo Simulations of 3D Ising model: (2004)Studied phase transitions and critical phenomenon in the 3D Ising Model using Monte Carlosimulations technique. Developed codes in Fortran for simulation and analysis.
  • Extended the above work to Understanding How Magnets Work: (2004)The problem that we addressed here was “Why is the net magnetization in an actual iron piece zero, though it is ferromagnetic?” Codes for simulations and analysis were built, again using Fortran programing.
  • The ground state of a 1D simple harmonic oscillator using Variational Monte Carlo method: (2007)The Monte Carlo method provides a convenient way to solve the Schroedinger equation. In this project, the exact minimum of the quantum particle was found by varying a trial wave function. Built a Fortran code for Variational Monte Carlo simulation of this system.
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation for a simple system of N particles in an NVE ensemble: (2008)This project was the base for my work during PhD. A system of “N” particles was simulated using a molecular dynamics technique using a code that I built in Fortran. We looked at the energy variation and other properties to check the authenticity of the code to be useful for further research.

    • Hobbies and Interests:

  • Badminton and other physical fitness stuff will be the first thing I will run for whenever I find time.
  • I am also fond of "hunting" flowers. I used to roam around with my camera to find new flowers, try to identify them and contribute them on this beautiful website.
  • I maintain a flickr account for organizing my pictures online. Do have a look at some of my interesting pictures at FlickRiver. Other than these I am all-time interested in teaching and learning anything related to Physics and computers.
    Shaista Ahmad Research Scholar School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India E-mail: shaista.ahmadgmail.com
    This page is under construction.
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