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Opportunities for Prospective Members
Still looking around? Don’t hesitate to Join us! We own an interdisciplinary group to understand problems in surface geochemistry and computational mineralogy, thus there are research opportunutues in fields ranging from experimental approaches and computational modelling for actinide immobilzation and carbonate. As a part of Mineralogy and Materials Science Research Group?we interact with Radiation Effects and Radioactive Waste Management group, Michigan Geomicrobiology group, Electron Microbeam Analysis Laboratory (EMAL) and Mineral Physics group.
Graduate and Undergruate Students: Openings are available for graduate students with a wide range of backgrounds including geology, chemistry, physics, material science and engneering, enviromental science and engineering, and computational modelling. Moreover, Department of Geological Science provides several competitive fellowships and Graduate Student Instructor positions to fund excellent Ph.D students. Looking for application information?click here. We also have research projects available for undergradutate. Prospective students are welcomed to contact Udo Becker
Postdoc and Research Fellows: Prospective postdocs are encouraged to contact Udo Becker. The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In addition, the Department of Geological Sciences offers a postdoctoral fellowship with highly competitive salary, travel and research funds, and benefits through the Turner Postdoctoral Fellowship program
Research Interests
| Molecular Modelling--vaterite | Vaterite crystal structure and carbonate orientational disorder to order transition |
| U and Th immobilization | Development of Phosphonate Molecular Cages for Separation and Immobilization of Uranium and Thorium |
| Actinide Carbonates | Stability of Actinide Carbonates: Computational Investigation |
| U(VI) Reduction | Uranium Adsorption and Reduction Process by Iron Sulfide Minerals |
| Goethite | Adsorption of U(VI) to Goethite and High pressure study of 17nm goethite |
| Carbonate Formation | Interfacial energy of calcite-MHA/MUA self-assembled monolayers during nucleation |
| the influence of ammonia on CaCO3 polymorph formation | |
| Growth process and crystallographic properties of vaterite | |
| Actinide Incorporation Calculation | Np-incorporation into uranyl phases |
| Solid-solution calculations of binary oxides | |
| Actinide adsorption onto mineral surfaces | |
| First-Principle Investigation and Orbital Anisotropy | First-principles investigation of Ca3(Ti, Zr, Hf, Sn)2Fe2SiO12 garnet structure for incorporation of actinides |
| The uranian garnet Ca3(U6+Zr)(Fe3+2Fe2+)O12: a first-principles study | |
| Orbital anisotropy in the LDA+U method: the case of ThxU1-xO2 | |
| Sulfates | Barium sulfate crystal growth |
| Biomineralization | Interaction of polypeptide network with Calcite |
| Interaction of polypeptide with Hydroxyapatite | |
| Proximity Effect | Adsorption of As (OH)3 on galena in the light of the proximity effect. |
| Np incorporation | Np5+ incorporation into uranyl alteration phases |
| Actinide Sorption | Actinide (U, Np, Tc, Pu) sorption onto Fe-oxide minerals (goethite, magnetite, hematite, etc) |
| UO2 vs. ThO2 | Comparison of oxygen and water adsorption onto UO2 and ThO2 surfaces |
| UO2+x | Quantum mechanical study of the oxidation of U4+O2 to U6+O2 |
| Au-nanoparticles in As-rich pyrite | Oswald ripening of nanoparticulate Au in As-rich pyrite (in-situ HRTEM movies) |
| Au-nanoparticles in FeAsS | Characterization of Au-nanoparticle nucleation and growth in Arsenopyrite |
| He diffusion in zircon | Atomistic simulation of He diffusion in zircon (MD simulation movies) |
| Pyrochlore | Various pyrochlore chemical compositions and their properties as a waste form |
| As adsorption on Fe-sulfides | TEM study of Arsenic sorption onto mackinawite nanoparticles |
