Robert Swendsen

Address:
Professor of Physics
Physics Department
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Phone: 412 268 5211
Fax: 412 681 0648
Email: swendsen@cmu.edu
Homepage: Visit

Background:

When and where you received your PhD
University of Pennsylvania, 1971

Where you did your postdoc:
EPostdoctoral Fellow, University of Cologne, Germany (7/71-12/73);
Institute für Festkörperforschung, Kernforschungsanlage Jülich, Germany (1/74-9/76);
Physics Department, Brookhaven National Lab (10/76-10/79);
IBM Research Laboratory Zurich, Switzerland (11/79-4/84);

Research:

My main area of research is solid state physics and statistical mechanics, with an emphasis on computer simulations. I have worked especially on thermodynamic phase transitions combining computer simulations with a renormalization-group analysis. I have also been involved in the development of new algorithms for more efficient simulations, to enable the study of problems that would otherwise involve prohibitively long computer runs.

In recent years, I have become involved in simulations of biological molecules. Such simulations require very large computer resources, which limit the problems that can be treated. Our group has developed new methods that have greatly improved the efficiency of some calculations and we are currently extending the range of applications.