Research Interests
I use computational methods to unravel the mysteries of the deep Earth. Atomistic simulations allow us to readily probe the extreme conditions found in the Earth's lower mantle or in super-Earths, those extrasolar planets several times the size of Earth.
I specialize in the transport properties of the minerals of the Earth's lowermost mantle: During my PhD I investigated diffusion in ferro-periclase ((Fe,Mg)O), MgSiO3-perovskite and post-perovskite to better constrain the rheology of the lower mantle. This was done by performing density functional theory calculations.
Currently I try to better understand thermal conductivity of the same minerals to improve our understanding of heat transfer in the lower mantle.