Full Name: Kevin P. Driver
Date of Birth: ask
Place of birth: US
Aug. 2000 - May 2001: University of Louisville REACH Department
Worked as a supplemental instructor for an undergraduate physics course on mechanics, heat,
and sound. (10hr/wk)
Aug. 2001 – Dec. 2001: University of Louisville Physics Department
Worked as a teaching assistant in an introductory electromagnetism
laboratory (PHYS 296). (10hr/wk)
PHYSICS RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
July 2003 - 2011: Ohio State University
As a graduate student, I worked in Prof. John
Wilkins' research on Quantum (Diffusion) Monte Carlo (QMC) and
Density Functional simulations of solids. We collaborate with Richard
Hennig and Cyrus Umrigar at Cornell University for this work. I have
spent the first couple of years learning DFT and QMC methodology and
calculating electronic properties of self-interstitial defects in pure
silicon. I have been using DFT and QMC to accurately determine the
formation energy of single, di-, and tri- interstitial defects, and
the barriers for diffusion. For the main part of my thesis work, I
have started doing high-pressure mineral physics calculations. I am
using DFT and QMC to calculate properties of silica and magnesium
silicates. In collaboration with Ron Cohen and Burkhard Militzer, we
will be calculating the post-stishovite silica phase diagram using QMC
and DFT linear response theory.
July 23 - September 1, 2007: Carnegie
Institution of Washington
During the summer of 2007, I was a visiting investigator at the
Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory in D.C. I worked with Ron Cohen to calculate
elastic properties of high-pressure silica phases using quantum Monte
Carlo. This study required 3 million hours of
computation in a six week period. The Department of Energy gracioulsy
invited me to use their Cray-XT4 (20,000 processors) at NERSC during the
testing phase, which made this work possible.
Dec. 2001 - June 2003: University of Louisville
Department of Physics (Senior Honors Project)
I worked under Profs. S.Y. Wu and C.S. Jayanthi in the Condensed Matter Theory
group on my senior honors thesis project. I used a
tight-binding molecular-dynamics simulation to investigate the
stability of non-hydrogenated nanocrystalline diamond clusters relative
to that of graphite clusters. It was determined that nano-graphite is less
stable than nano-diamond due to surface reconstruction, contrary to bulk behavior.
June 2001 – Aug. 2001: Arizona State University Department of Physics
I participated in the National Science Foundation's summer Research Experience for Undergraduates program at
Arizona State University, where I was a research assistant in Prof. Jeff Drucker's
molecular beam epitaxy group. My work involved investigating strategies for producing and characterizing
self-assembled, germanium-silicon quantum dots. I co-authored two publications and I have given several
presentations discussing the results of this work.
Aug. 2000 – Dec. 2001: University of Louisville Department of Physics
In the fall of 2000, I worked with Prof. P.J. Ouseph on a project within his experimental condensed matter research group. I designed
and tested a new method of studying Brewster's Law and Fresnel's Laws for
Prof. Ouseph's undergraduate electromagnetism laboratory. I co-authored one publication discussing the results of
this work. Then, in the spring of 2001, I took on a larger
project with Dr. Ouseph. In this endeavor, I developed a variable velocity gas
jet "impactor" that is now used in tandem with the group’s scanning tunneling
microscope to study effects of neutral gas bombardment of crystals.
PUBLICATIONS
SPECIAL MEETINGS, SCHOOLS, AND WORKSHOPS ATTENDED
-Summer School on QMC methods, University of Illinois-UC, 2007
-Summer School on DFT Methods, University of Illinois-UC, 2005
-DFT workshop, Cornell University, 2005
-QMC workshop, Banff Center, Canada, 2005
-Electronic Structure Workshop, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
-APS March Meeting 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
-AGU Fall Meeting, 2006, 2007
PUBLISHED ABSTRACTS AND PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS (Complete List)
1) Yangting Zhang, Margaret Floyd, Jeff Drucker, P.A. Crozier, David J. Smith, Arizona
State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Solid State Science,
Tempe, AZ; K.P. Driver, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville,
KY. “The Morphological Evolution and Composition of Epitaxially Self-Assembled Ge/Si(100) Quantum Dots.” Presented
by K. P. Driver at the Tenth Annual Research Symposium. August 3, 2001,
Arizona State University.
2) Yangting Zhang, Margaret Floyd, Jeff Drucker, P.A. Crozier, David J. Smith, Arizona
State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Solid State Science,
Tempe, AZ; K.P. Driver, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville,
KY. “The Morphological Evolution and Composition of Epitaxially Self-Assembled Ge/Si(100) Quantum Dots.” Presented
by K. P. Driver at the Twelfth Annual Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates. November
10, 2001, Argonne National Laboratory.
3) Yangting Zhang, Margaret Floyd, Jeff Drucker, P.A. Crozier, David J. Smith, Arizona
State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Solid State Science,
Tempe, AZ; K.P. Driver, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville,
KY. “The Morphological Evolution and Composition of Epitaxially Self-Assembled Ge/Si(100) Quantum Dots.” Presented
by K. P. Driver at the American Physical Society March Meeting in a
combined session on the Fabrication of Nanostructures and Nanocombs. March 20, 2002, Indianapolis,
Indiana.
4) Yangting Zhang, Margaret Floyd, Jeff Drucker, P.A. Crozier, David J. Smith, Arizona
State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Solid State Science,
Tempe, AZ; K.P. Driver, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville,
KY. “Sub-nm composition variations in Ge quantum dots on Si(100).” Presented by Jeff
Drucker at the American Physical Society March Meeting in a poster session on
Electronic Materials. April 3, 2002, San Francisco, California.
5) Yangting Zhang, Margaret Floyd, Jeff Drucker, P.A. Crozier, David J. Smith, Arizona
State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Solid State Science,
Tempe, AZ; K.P. Driver, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville,
KY. “The Morphological Evolution and Composition of Epitaxially Self-Assembled Ge/Si(100) Quantum Dots.” Presented
by K. P. Driver at the Society of Physics Students 2002 Zone 8
Regional Meeting Research Symposium. April 6, 2002, University of Louisville.
6) K.P. Driver and P.J. Ouseph, “Design and Construction of a Gas Jet
Impactor.” Presented by K.P. Driver at the First Annual University of Louisville Undergraduate
Research Symposium. April 16, 2002, University of Louisville.
7) Kevin P. Driver, William D. Parker, Richard G. Hennig, John
W. Wilkins (Department of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
43210), Cyrus J. Umrigar (Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY 14853); Formation Energies of Small Interstitial Clusters: DMC
vs. DFT. Poster Presentation by K. Driver and W. Parker. Jan. 13-16,
2005, Banff, Canada.
8) Kevin P. Driver, William D. Parker, Phillip R. Peterson, Richard
G. Hennig, John W. Wilkins (Department of Physics, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH 43210), Cyrus J. Umrigar (Cornell Theory
Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853); Diffusion Monte Carlo Formation Energies of
Single-, Di-, and Tri-Interstitials in Silicon. Poster
Presentation by William Parker at the Ohio Nanotechnology Summit. Feb. 3, 2005, Dayton, OH.
9) Kevin P. Driver, William D. Parker, Phillip R. Peterson, Richard
G. Hennig, John W. Wilkins (Department of Physics, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH 43210), Cyrus J. Umrigar (Cornell Theory
Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853); Diffusion Monte Carlo Formation Energies of
Silicon Self-Interstitial Defects. Presented by
K. P. Driver at the APS March meeting. March 23, 2005, Los
Angeles, CA.
10) Kevin P. Driver, William D. Parker, Phillip R. Peterson, Richard
G. Hennig, John W. Wilkins (Department of Physics, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH 43210), Cyrus J. Umrigar (Cornell Theory
Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853); Diffusion Monte Carlo Formation Energies of
Silicon Self-Interstitial Defects. Poster presented jointly by
K. P. Driver and W. D. Parker at the Electronic Structure
Workshop. June, 2005, Cornell university, Ithica NY.
11) Kevin P. Driver, William D. Parker, Richard G. Hennig, John
W. Wilkins (Department of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus,
OH 43210), Cyrus J. Umrigar (Cornell Theory Center, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY 14853); Silicon-interstitials-based
Benchmarking of DFT Exchange-correlation Potentials. Talk presented
by K. P. Driver at the APS March meeting. March 16, 2006, Baltimore,
MD.
12) Kevin P. Driver, William D. Parker, Richard
G. Hennig, John W. Wilkins (Department of Physics, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH 43210), E. Batista, R. L. Martin
(LANL), G. Scuseria (Rice), Cyrus J. Umrigar (Cornell Theory
Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853); Quantum Mechanical Predictions of Defect Properties for
Realistic Device Simulations. Poster presented at Ohio
Nanotechnology Summit, April 4-5, 2006 Columbus, OH.
13) Kevin P. Driver, William D. Parker, Richard
G. Hennig, John W. Wilkins (Department of Physics, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH 43210), E. Batista, R. L. Martin
(LANL), G. Scuseria (Rice), Cyrus J. Umrigar (Cornell Theory
Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853); Quantum Mechanical Predictions of Defect Properties for
Realistic Device Simulations. Poster presented by Kevin Driver at
the Electronic Structure Workshop, June 26, 2006; Columbus,
OH OSU department of Physics.
14) Kevin P. Driver (Department of Physics, Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH 43210); Silica Under Pressure: From DFT to QMC. Talk
presented at the NSF-CMG grant collaboration meeting. August 23, 2006;
Carnegie Institution of Washington - Geophysical Laboratory.
15)Kevin P. Driver, John W. Wilkins (Ohio State
University), Richard Hennig, Cyrus J. Umrigar
(Cornell), Gus Scuseria (Rice), Burkhard Militzer, Ron Cohen
(Carnegie Institution of Washington); Simulations of Silica Phases
Beyond the Generalized-Gradient Approximation. Poster presented by
Kevin Driver at the American Geophysical Union's Fall
meeting. December 15, 2006; San Francisco, CA.
16)Kevin P. Driver, John W. Wilkins (Ohio State
University), Richard Hennig, Cyrus J. Umrigar
(Cornell), Gus Scuseria (Rice), Burkhard Militzer, Ron Cohen
(Carnegie Institution of Washington); QMC and DFT Functional
Performance for Silica. Talk given by Kevin Driver at the American
Physical Society's March Meeting. March 5, 2007; Denver, CO.
17)Kevin P. Driver, John W. Wilkins (Ohio State
University), Richard Hennig, Cyrus J. Umrigar
(Cornell), Gus Scuseria (Rice), Burkhard Militzer, Ron Cohen
(Carnegie Institution of Washington); Hybrid Density Functional
Performance for Silica. Poster given by Kevin Driver at the
Electronic Structure Workshop, June, 2007; North Carolina State
Univ.
18) Kevin P. Driver; Pushing the Envelope of Accuracy and Cost in
High-Pressure Electronic Structure Theory: Application to elasticity
of silica. Informal Seminar at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
19)Kevin P. Driver, John W. Wilkins, R. E. Cohen, P. Lopez Rios,
M. D. Towler, R. J. Needs; Quantum Monte Carlor Study of the Elastic
Instability of Stishovite Under Pressure. Poster presented by
Kevin Driver at the American Geophysical Union's Fall
meeting. December, 2007; San Francisco, CA.
20) Kevin P. Driver et al. Hybrid Density Functional
Performance for Silica (Poster Presentation), Quantum Monte
Carlo Summer School, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
IL, July, 2007.
21)Kevin P. Driver, John W. Wilkins, R. E. Cohen, P. Lopez Rios,
M. D. Towler, R. J. Needs; Quantum Monte Carlo Study of the Elastic
Instability of Stishovite Under Pressure. Talk presented by Kevin
Driver at the American Physical Society's March Meeting. March,
2008, New Orleans.
22)Kevin P. Driver, John W. Wilkins, R. E. Cohen, P. Lopez Rios,
M. D. Towler, R. J. Needs; Quantum Monte Carlo Study of the Elastic
Instability of Stishovite Under Pressure. Poster presented by Kevin
Driver at the Electronic Structure Workshop. June,
2008, UIUC.
23)Kevin P. Driver, John Wilkins; Quantum Monte Carlo Equations of
State of alpha- and beta-Magnesium Silicate. Talk presented by Kevin
Driver at the American Physical Society's March Meeting. March, 2009,
Pittsburgh.
POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY
· President of the University of Louisville Society of Physics Students (2002-2003).
· Vice President of the University of Louisville Society of Physics Students (2001-2002).
· Representative of the University of Louisville Speed Scientific School Student Council,
"Student Activities Committee" (August 1999-July 2000).
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ACTIVITIES
· American Physical Society (1999 - Present)
· National Society of Physics Students (1999-Present)
· University of Louisville Society of Physics Students (1999 - Present)
Within the society of physics students, I have performed the following selected
functions:
– Judge of Manuel High School Science fair (2001, 2002, 2003)
– Judge of
Louisville Regional Science Fair (2001, 2002, 2003)
– Judge of Ballard High School Science
Fair (2002)
– Recruiting at Honors Society, High School, and College events.
– Organizing Fall/Spring
trips and Fall/Spring Picnics
– Organizing Zone 8 Regional Meetings (2001, 2002)
– Volunteer at the International Science Fair, Louisville (2002)
· Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society, 1999 – present
ACHIEVEMENTS
· Winner of OSU-Physics Dept Graduate Student Poster Competition, $100, 2007 & 2008
· AGU (Mineral and Rock Physics) Outstanding Student Paper Award, 2007
· Recipient of OSU's Fowler fellowship
(2yrs, $20,000 per yr), 2003
· Recipient of OSU's Early Start Summer Fellowship (3mo., $3850), 2003
· Recipient of UofL's Donald
M. Bennett (Outstanding Senior in Physics) Award, 2003
· National SPS Leadership Scholarship (2nd place, $1500), 2002
· Nominee of the National Apker award, 2002
· Nominee of the National Goldwater Scholarship, 2001, 2002
· Dean's Scholar, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
· Undergraduate Research Scholar Grant ($300), 2000
· Farm Bureau Scholarship ($500), 1998
REFEREES
Prof. John W. Wilkins
Department of Physics
191 West Woodruff Ave.
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210
Phone: (614)292-2778
Email: wilkins ^_AT_^ mps.ohio-state.edu
