Department of Chemistry
Michael Rubinstein

Michael Rubinstein

John P. Barker Distinguished Professor
mr@unc.edu
919-962-3544
919-962-2388 (fax)
Caudill 159

Research Interests

Polymer Theory and Computer Simulations

Professional Background

California Institute of Technology, B.S. (1979), Harvard University, Ph.D. (1983); AT&T Bell Laboratories (1983-1985); Kodak Research Laboratories (1985-1995)

Research Synopsis

The research of our group is in the field of polymer theory and computer simulations. The unique properties of polymeric systems are due to the size, topology and interactions of the molecules they are made of. Our goal is to understand the properties of various polymeric systems and to design new systems with even more interesting and useful properties.

Our approach is based upon building and solving simple molecular models of different polymeric systems. The models we develop are simple enough to be solved either analytically or numerically, but contain the main features leading to unique properties of real polymers. Computer simulations of our models serve as an important bridge between analytical calculations and experiments.

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Collaborators

Max Berkowitz, Joseph DeSimone, Greg Forest, Sergei Sheiko, Edward Samulski