Paul Hanakata

Paul Hanakata is currently a postdoctoral fellow. He received his PhD from Boston University where he studied the mechanical and electronic properties of 2D materials beyond graphene using density functional theory, molecular dynamics, machine learning and tight-binding.  His current broad research interests include: (1) mechanics of programmable matters, (2) statistical physics of metamaterials in noisy environments, and (3) inverse design of metamaterials via machine learning. He currently investigates the interplay between geometry and thermal fluctuations (noise) in phase transitions in buckled 2D materials and stochastic buckling in thermalized nanoribbons. Some potential technological applications related to his work are smart programmable nanodevices and nanoscale robots that can mimic molecular motors, such as proteins.