Kevin Fernando awarded 2020 SPS Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research

About the Recipient

Zone and Chapter: University of Central Florida

I recently graduated from the University of Central Florida with Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Mathematics. I have been involved in SPS since my first year in college, and through SPS have had the opportunity to lead my peers and contribute to a vibrant physics community. I’m proud to have served as Associate Zone Councilor for the 2019-2020 year, and hope to continue my connection to SPS.

My research has focused mainly on non-equilibrium statistical physics, particularly using the Green-Kubo formalism to understand heat and mass transport in non-equilibrium systems. In the fall I plan on continuing my career by pursuing a Ph.D in physics at Johns Hopkins University.

Project

Project Name: Development of Nonlocal Green Kubo Formalism with Applications to Heat and Mass Transport
Project Abstract: In order to better understand deviations from Fourier’s law in several nanoscale systems, nonlocal equations for coupled heat and mass transport are developed within the Green-Kubo formalism. Nonlocal thermal transport in Lennard-Jones solids is computed to establish the existence of semi-ballistic transport. Deviations from the diffusive theory are shown by comparing the Fourier transform of the response function from the nonlocal theory to that of the diffusive one. It is shown that the deviations from the local theory correspond to acoustic phonons, whose frequency dependence gives rise to the observed deviations from the local theory.