Faculty Highlight: Meet Dr. Toher

Toher received his PhD degree in physics from Trinity College Dublin University in 2008, where he modeled electronic transport in molecular devices under the supervision of Professor Stefano Sanvito. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher under Professor Gianaurelio Cuniberti at Technische Universität Dresden, modeling the interactions of molecules with surfaces. Toher went on to work with The Center for Autonomous Materials Design in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University with Professor Stefano Curtarolo. During his time there he worked on the computational design of disordered materials, including high entropy ceramics and metallic glasses, and implemented methods to automate the calculation of thermo-mechanical properties within the automatic flow (AFLOW) framework. During his postdoctoral research at Technische Universität Dresden, he supervised coursework for students in the NanoBioPhysics Master of Science program, ranging from implementing short programs to model electron transport to learning to use molecular dynamics packages to investigate the behavior of nanostructures.

Toher is also a principal investigator with a National Science Foundation award under the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer Our Future (DMREF) program to investigate high-entropy silicates for applications in thermal and environmental barriers. Toher has worked as part of research teams in multiple countries, has coordinated multi-university research programs and has worked closely with experimentalists to help guide and consult in the synthesis of compositions and interpretation of results. His area of expertise includes computational material thermodynamics, machine-learning in materials science and computational materials science methods. Toher is experienced in the instruction of materials science, helping students understand how theory can be applied to materials and providing them ample practice to sharpen their problem-solving skills and plans to use his extensive experience in a wide range of materials science and condensed matter research to continue the excellence of the department in scientific research.

“As a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, my goal is to establish a research program that combines first-principles calculations, big data, machine-learning and computational thermodynamics, to design and discover new materials for energy and nanoelectronic applications,” Toher said. Our new faculty member is dedicated to the success of the department and research programs therein.