Chris Ostrouchov is a PhD candidate in MSE working under the direction of William Weber. Ostroucov received his bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics with a minor in computer science from Clemson University. Ostrouchov’s broad research interests include the intersection of computation, statistics, and materials science. His undergraduate experiences taught him the importance of testing, reproducibility, and documentation to scientifc codes.
Ostrouchov’s research focuses on interatomic- potential development for molecular dynamics and applies it to advanced optimization methods and required workfow automation of codes such as LAMMPS, VASP, and SIESTA. These interatomic potentials are especially important in the feld of radiation materials because current potentials are not suitable for non-equilibrium conditions.
Ostrouchov has helped teach several graduate thermodynamics courses and a computational material science class focusing on density functional theory. In 2017 he received the “Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching” from MSE. Ostrouchov was formerly the president of the UT Materials Research Society, leading outreach events that educated others about material science.