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Renata M. Wentzcovitch

PROFESSOR OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, AND EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Office: 289A Engineering Terrace
Mail: 200 S.W. Mudd, Mail Code 4701

Tel(845) 365-8522
Fax(212) 854-8257
Emailrmw2150@columbia.edu

Renata Wentzcovitch is a Materials Science and Engineering Professor in the Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics Department, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. Her research is devoted to computational ab initio studies of materials at extreme conditions, especially planetary materials. She addresses electronic, structural, and vibrational properties from a fundamental and integrated perspective.

Research Interests

MINERAL PHYSICS WITH APPLICATIONS TO GEOPHYSICS (SEISMOLOGY AND GEODYNAMICS) AND GEOCHEMISTRY (WATER SPECIATION AND ISOTOPE FRACTIONATION IN MINERALS), MINERAL PHYSICS-SEISMOLOGY-GEODYNAMICS INTEGRATION, MATERIALS DISCOVERY AT (EXO)PLANETARY INTERIOR COND

Links

VISIT MATERIALS SCIENCEVISIT APPLIED PHYSICS AND APPLIED MATHEMATICSLAB WEBSITEGOOGLE SCHOLARCV

Wentzcovitch develops and applies materials simulation methods to study materials properties at high pressures and temperatures, especially minerals at planetary interior conditions. Her research interests include:

  1. Mineral physics with applications to geophysics (seismology and geodynamics) and geochemistry (water speciation and isotope fractionation in minerals). 
  2. Thermoelastic properties of materials at extreme conditions
  3. Solid solution and phase diagram calculations at extreme conditions
  4. Transport properties of Earth-forming phases at extreme conditions
  5. Materials discovery at (exo)planetary interior conditions
  6. H2O-ice physics
  7. Properties of strongly correlated oxides and their crystalline defects
  8. Spin crossover systems
  9. Simulation methods development
  10. Automation of high-throughput phase space sampling calculations.

Prior to joining the Columbia Engineering faculty in 2017, she was a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota, where she was a member of the graduate faculties in the School of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Earth Sciences, Chemical Physics Program, and Scientific Computation Program, where she served as Director of Graduate Studies. She has been a regular visiting professor at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste (IT) since 1998, Earth-Life Science Institute and Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at Tokyo Institute of Technology since 2002, the University of Frankfurt since 2008, University of Science and Technology of China and Beijing Computational Science and Engineering Center since 2012. She is visiting the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation in New York.

She has served in the Chair line of the Division of Computational Physics of the American Physical Society. Now she serves in the President's line of the Mineral and Rock Physics Section of the American Geophysical Union.

 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
  • Research fellow, Department of Geological Sciences, University College London, and The Royal Institution of Great Britain, London, UK, 1993-1994
  • Theory of Condensed Matter Group (TCM), Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, UK, 1992-1993
  • Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Department of Physics, Stony Brook University, USA, 1989-1992

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
  • Professor of applied physics and applied mathematics, Columbia University, 2017-
  • Professor of earth and environmental science, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 2017-
  • Member of the graduate faculty in School of Physics and Astronomy (1996-2016), Department of Earth Science (2010-2016), Chemical Physics Program (1996-2016), Scientific Computing Program (1996-2016), University of Minnesota, 1996-2016
  • Founding director, Virtual Laboratory for Earth and Planetary Materials, University of Minnesota, 2004
  • Professor of materials science, chemical engineering and materials science, University of Minnesota, 2006-2016
  • Associate professor of materials science, chemical engineering and materials Science, University of Minnesota, 2001-2006
  • Assistant professor of materials science, chemical engineering and materials science, University of Minnesota, 1994-2001

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
  • American Physical Society
  • American Geophysical Union
  • Mineralogical Society of America
  • American Association for Advancement of Science
  • Materials Research Society
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences

HONORS & AWARDS

  • • Bridgman Award of the International Association for Advancement of Research in High Pressure Science and Technology (AIRAPT) (2025) (first woman)

    • Harry Hess Visiting Professorship at Princeton University (02/2024 to 04/2024)

    • President-Elect, President, Past-President, Mineral and Rock Physics Section, American Geophysical Union (2023-28)

    • Vice-Chair, Chair-Elect, Chair, Past-Chair, Division of Computational Physics, American Physical Society (2017-20)

    •  Outstanding Referee for Physical Review B (2021)

    • Wilhelm Heraeus Visiting Professorship Award, University of Frankfurt (2015-16)

    • Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013-)

    • Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science (Physics) (2012-)

    • Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America (2009-)

    • Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2008-)

    • Fellow, American Physical Society, Division of Materials Physics (2006-)

    • Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for Senior US Scientists (2008)

    • Japan Society for Progress of Science (JSPS), Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan (2008)

    • Member at-large, American Physical Society, Division of Computational Physics (2000-03)

    • Fellow (2001-) and Associate Fellow (1997-2001) of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute

    • Shell Land-Grant Professor in Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of Minnesota (1994-95)

    • Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK (1993-94)

    • Fellowships from Brazilian agencies:

    -     São Paulo State Research Foundation, FAPESP (undergraduate, 1978-80), with Sueli Aldrovandi (Astrophysics, Institute for Astronomy and Geophysics, University of São Paulo)

    -     National Research Council for Nuclear Energy, CNEN (MSc, 1980-82), with José Roberto Leite (Physics, Nuclear Energy Research Institute, University of São Paulo)

    -     National Research Council, CNPq (PhD, 1983-87) with Marvin L. Cohen (Physics, UC-Berkeley)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

new CV

Renata M. Wentzcovitch
PROFESSOR OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, AND EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE