University of Minnesota, Morris

Open to U. Relations: 

Updated:

 

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

 

Name:              Sylke Boyd

Title:                 Assistant Professor

Unit:                 Division of Science and Mathematics

Campus Address:                                             Home Address:       

Sci 2315, Science Building                                9 Sunnyslope Road

                                                                        Morris, MN 56267

Campus Phone:  (320)589-6315                      Home Phone:           (320)589-7145

 

 

 

EDUCATION

 

College and University Education

October 1993 – July 1997:

      Institut of Physics

      University of Technology

      Chemnitz, Germany

      Degree awarded:  Doctor rerum naturalium in Theoretical Physics

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Thomas Frauenheim

      Title of dissertation:

      Molecular Dynamics Study of Effects of Low Energy Ion Bombardment in Carbon and Silicon Systems

 

October 1992 – October 1993:

      Institute of Physics

      University of Technology

      Chemnitz, Germany

      Degree awarded: Diploma in Physics

      Advisor: Prof. Dr. Thomas Frauenheim

      Title of Diploma thesis:

      Molecular Dynamics Simulations of subplantation of hyperthermal  carbon atoms into diamond(111)

 

Undergraduate Honors and Awards

November 1993 – October 1996:

      Scholarship of the Graduate College Thin Films and superhard materials at the University of Technology Chemnitz, Chemnitz, German

Graduate Honors and Awards

September 1997 – August 1999:

Postdoctoral Scholarship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn, Germany

 

EMPLOYMENT

 

Professional Employment

August 2004- present

Assistant Professor

Division of Science and Mathematics, University of Minnesota-Morris, Morris, MN 56267

 

August 2002 - May 2004

Assistant Professor

Department of Physics and Dual-Degree Engineering,

Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA 70125

1.      Teaching algebra- and calculus-based introductory physics courses, junior-level Optics, Thermodynamics, and Seminar class, introductory laboratory classes.

2.      Setting up a computational laboratory for materials simulations, mentoring two undergraduate students in simulations and programming projects.

 

January 2000

-July 2002

Instructor

Department of Physics, University of New Orleans,

New Orleans, LA 70148

teaching of various undergraduate courses in physics

 

December 1999-July 2002

Senior Research Assistant

Department of Chemistry, University of New Orleans,

New Orleans, LA 70148

development of computational model for hot spot development in RDX, density-functional tight-binding investigation of carbon nanotubes

 

August 1997-March 2000

Postdoctoral Research-Assistant

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Richard. H. Boyd

Development of a Conformational Energy Model for PET and PEN assisted by density-functional based methods; molecular dynamics study of the elementary processes leading to the subglass transitions in PET and PEN

 

 

 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND HONORS

 

Professional Organization Memberships

 

Member of the American Physical Society (APS) since 1997

Member of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) since 1993

*Member of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers since Oct 2006

 

TEACHING AND ADVISING

 

University of Minnesota, Morris Courses Taught

*IS1001: FYS Bottom dwellers in an ocean of air (Fall 2006)

*Phys1061: The Physics of Sound and Music (Fall 2004, Fall 2005)

*Phys1101: General Physics I (Spring 2005, Spring 2006)

*Phys3101: Classical Mechanics (Fall 2004, Fall 2006)

*Phys3003: Computer Modeling of Materials (Spring 2006)

Phys3501: Statistical Physics (Spring 2005)

*Phys4101: Electromagnetism (Fall 2005)

 

*Total of eight advisees (Fall 2005 – Fall 2006)

 

Special Teaching Methods Implemented

*On-line learning checks

*Chapter handouts

Use of computer demonstrations for sound and mechanics problems

Course websites

Field trips to music department and wind turbine

Projects

Field trip to computational landmarks in the Twin Cities (Army High Performance Computing Center, research groups in computational chemistry)

 

Advising and Instruction-Related University Activities

*Advisor to currently seven students

*Advisor for senior thesis (1 in 2005, 2 in 2006)

Recipient of grant from IT Bush program for implementation of technology in the class room, Summer 2005

 

SCHOLARLY, PROFESSIONAL AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY

 

Publications

      Articles:

 

*Sylke Boyd, Matthew Gravelle, and Peter Politzer, Nonreactive molecular dynamics force field for crystalline hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5 triazine, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 104508 (2006).

 

Z. Peralta-Inga, Pat Lane, Jane S. Murray, S. Boyd, M. E. Grice, C. O’Connor, and P. Politzer, Characterization of Surface Electrostatic Potentials of some (5,5) and (n,1) Carbon and Boron/Nitrogen Model nanotubes, Nanoletters 3(1), 21, 2003.

Z. Peralta-Inga, S. Boyd, J. S. Murray, C. J. O’Connor and P. Politzer, Density Functional Tight-Binding Studies of Carbon Nanotube Structures, Struct. Chem. 14, 431 (2003) .

P. Politzer and S. Boyd Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Energetic Solids, Struct. Chem. 13, 105 (2002). 

Z. Peralta-Inga, J. S. Murray, M. E. Grice, S. Boyd, C. J. O’Connor and  P. Politzer, Computational Characterization of Surfaces of Model Graphene Systems, J. Mol. Struct. (Theochem), 549, 147 (2001).

Sylke U. Boyd and Richard H. Boyd, Chain Dynamics and Relaxation in Amorphous Poly(ethylene terephthalate): A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study, Macromolecules 34, 7219 (2001)

S. Uhlmann, Th. Frauenheim, and Y. Lifshitz, Molecular dynamics study of the fundamental processes involved in subplantation of diamondlike carbon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 641 (1998)

Kevin J. Boyd, Denes Marton, Wayne Rabalais, Sylke Uhlmann, and Thomas Frauenheim, Semiquantitative subplantation model for low energy ion bombardment of solid surfaces, I. Noble Gas Ion-Surface Interactions, Journ. Vac. Sci. Technol. A16, 444 (1998).

Kevin J. Boyd, Denes Marton, Wayne Rabalais, Sylke Uhlmann, and Thomas Frauenheim, Semiquantiative Subplantation model for low energy ion bombardment of solid surfaces. III. Ion Beam Homoepitaxy of Si, Journ. Vac. Sci. Technol. A16, 463 (1998).

Sylke Uhlmann, Thomas Frauenheim, Kevin J. Boyd, Denes Marton, and Wayne Rabalais, Elementary processes during low-energy self-bombardment of Si(100)2x2 - a molecular dynamics study,  Rad. Eff. 141, 185 (1997).

Thomas Frauenheim, Frank Weich, Thomas Köhler, Sylke Uhlmann, Dirk Porezag, and Gotthardt Seifert, Density-functional based construction of transferable non-orthogonal tight-binding potentials for Si and SiH, Phys. Rev. B 52, 11492 (1995).

Sylke Uhlmann, Uwe Stephan, Thomas Frauenheim, and Gotthardt Seifert, Density-functional based MD studies of low-energy atom collisions onto diamond and graphite, Mat. Res. Symp. Proc. Vol. 389, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1995.

Sylke Uhlmann and Thomas Frauenheim, Structure formation in low-energy methyl radical collisions onto diamond(100): an MD study, Diam. Rel. Mat. 5, 169 (1995).

Sylke Uhlmann, Thomas Frauenheim, and Uwe Stephan, Molecular-dynamics subplantation studies of carbon beneath the diamond(111) surface, Phys. Rev. B51, 4541 (1995).

 

Conference Papers and Presentations

*Gordon Conference on Energetic Materials, June 2006, Computer Simulations Of Point Defects In Crystalline RDX, Sylke Boyd and Matt Gravelle, poster

14th Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry, Jackson, MS, Nov 4-5 2005, A computer study of point defects in the RDX crystal, M. Gravelle and S. Boyd, poster

10th Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry Jackson, MS, Oct 2001, Development of forcefield and molecular model for RDX crystal,  S. Boyd, J. Murray, M. Concha, and P. Politzer, poster

Spring meeting of the American Physical Society in  Atlanta, USA, 1999, Molecular Dynamics Study of subglass relaxation of PET, S. Boyd and R. H. Boyd, oral presentation.

VII Conference on Computer Simulations of Radiation Effects in Solids, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom, 1996. Computational determination of penetration and displacement threshold for low-energy ion bombardment of silicon, S. Boyd, K.J. Boyd, Th. Frauenheim, D. Marton, and W. Rabalais, poster.

Spring meeting of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft in Münster, Germany , 1994, Molecular dynamics study of low-energy ion bombardment of diamond surfaces, S. Boyd and Th. Frauenheim, poster.

Also:

Spring meeting of the Materials Research Society in  San Francisco, USA, 1995

Third European conference on diamond and superhard materials, Barcelona, Spain, 1995

Annual meeting of the tri-national DACH in Gloggnitz, Austria, 1995

Spring meeting of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft in Regensburg, Germany, 1996

Annual meeting of the tri-national DACH-Verbund in Grimentz, Switzerland, 1993

 

Grants Received

      Within the University:

Grant-in-Aid from the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota 2005/2006

Computer Modeling of Point defect Formation in RDX

 

Bush IT participant summer 2005, Computer Modeling of Materials

 

Sponsored UROP research project for

      *Anna Schliep, Experimental study of sound production by strings in moving air (Spring 2006)

      Matthew Gravelle, Study of point defects in an RDX crystal (Spring 2005)

     

Grant Proposals Submitted, Not Accepted

 

*August 2006: submitted preproposal on a Study Of Point Defect Agglomeration In Energetic Solids to the Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, Air Force Office for Scientific Research and DARPA

 

November 2002: Board of Regents of Louisiana, on Computer simulations of Defect formation in molecular solids.

 

Professional Meetings Attended

November 2003: Workshop of the APS and AAPT for new faculty members in physics

 

Research and Scholarly Activities in Progress

 

I am working on bringing the defect project on RDX to a consclusion. The agglomeration of point defects as well as the properties of expanded defects such as dislocations are the subject for the next year. In addition, a paper on point defects in RDX joint with student Matthew Gravelle is in preparation. Student Sam Geller is has been working on the development of a Monte Carlo Scheme for crystal growth in molecular crystals since May 2006. Student Anna Schliep is studying the dislocation behavior in RDX crystals. Both are paid by fnds from my Grant-in-Aid.

I am exploring the options for more funding for the RDX project.

Also, I plan to increasingly shift my research focus toward other systems of interest, in particular friction between surfaces.

 

 

SERVICE

 

UMM Service

 

      Committees:

         *Commission on women: since September 2006

         *Student parent subcommittee: chair since October 2006

         *URS committee: since January 2006

         * Contact of the physics discipline for Education Licensure

         Safety committee Division of Math and Science, since August 2005

         *Kaufmann-McCree committee: Spring 2006

         *represented UMM at Stevens County Fair

 

Professional Service Activities

      Serve as reviewer for Journal of Physical Chemistry

 

Public Service Activities

 

      *Morris Elementary School Reuse committee (since October 2005)

 

      Super Science Saturday, October 1 2005

                     Helped with organization and offered an activity on air pressure

 

      Science Show at Traverse County Fair, August 2005

                     Together with Gordon McIntosh

 

      Served on RFC advisory committee, Spring 2005