short biography

I was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After completing my secondary education, I embarked on an academic journey that took me to Perth, Western Australia, where I pursued higher education at the University of Western Australia (UWA). At UWA, I attained a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Professional Engineering, specializing in chemical engineering.

Subsequently, I decided to further my studies by pursuing a Ph.D. in computational material science at the Microelectronics Research Group at UWA. In my Ph.D., I used molecular dynamics to examine how dislocations propagate from the CdZnTe substrate into the HgCdTe epilayer during molecular beam epitaxy growth. I also used density functional theory to study the position of trap states that some of these dislocations introduce within the band gap.

Currently, I work as a Penn State Postdoctoral Scholar within the Phases Research Lab, where I employ density functional theory simulations and statistical mechanics to study emergent properties in magnetic materials, ferroelectrics, and superconductors.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Computational Materials Science, University of Western Australia, 2022

  • Master of Professional Engineering – Chemical Engineering, University of Western Australia, 2017

  • Bachelor of Science – Engineering Science, University of Western Australia, 2015

Academic Interests

  • Density Functional Theory

  • Molecular Dynamics

  • CALPHAD

  • Self-directed Learning in Physics, Mathematics, and Programming

Non-Academic Interests

  • Movies and video games

  • Reading

  • Hiking

  • Fitness and long-distance running