Susan Buthaina Sinnott is professor and head of

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

and engineering at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

. Sinnott is a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 13,000 materials researchers from academi ...

(MRS), the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

(AAAS) and the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

(APS). She has served as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the journal '' Computational Materials Science'' since 2014.

Early life and education

Sinnott received a bachelors of science in chemistry at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. She moved to

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

for her graduate studies, and earned her doctoral degree in physical chemistry in 1993.

Research and career

After graduating Sinnott moved to the

United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

where she worked on surface chemistry. Sinnott made an openly licensed video about "Using Computers to Create New Materials" in 2015 After two years at the Naval Research Laboratory, Sinnott was appointed an assistant professor at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. In 2000 she was recruited to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

as an associate professor. Sinnott was promoted to professor at the University of Florida in 2005, where she led projects on cyber infrastructure and quantum theory. In 2015 Sinnott was appointed Head of Materials Science and Engineering at the

. Sinnott's research involves the development of computational methods to understand the electronic and atomic structure of materials. Her computational models include continuum level modelling and fluid dynamics and take into account material behaviour at the nanoscale. She has investigated the formation and role of grain boundaries, dopants, defects and heterogeneous interfaces. Her research has considered

perovskites A perovskite is a crystalline material of formula ABX3 with a crystal structure similar to that of Perovskite, the mineral perovskite, this latter consisting of calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3). The mineral was first discovered in the Ural Moun ...

, showing that the alignment or tilting of the perovskite oxygen cages impacts the materials properties. Sinnott has served as

of the scientific journal '' Computational Materials Science'' since 2014. Her principal research interests at Penn State University include

two-dimensional A two-dimensional space is a mathematical space with two dimensions, meaning points have two degrees of freedom: their locations can be locally described with two coordinates or they can move in two independent directions. Common two-dimension ...

and nano-structured materials, gas adsorption and separation in porous solid materials, and

condensed matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid State of matter, phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and elec ...

Selected awards and honours

Her awards include: * 2005 Elected a fellow of the

American Vacuum Society AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing (formally the American Vacuum Society, Inc.) is a professional and scientific society founded in 1953 as a committee on vacuum technology. The AVS supports networking among its ...

* 2009 Distinguished editor of the ''

Physical Review Letters ''Physical Review Letters'' (''PRL''), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. The journal is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of physics ...

'' * 2010 Elected a fellow of the

* 2011 Elected a fellow of the

American Ceramic Society The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a nonprofit organization of professionals for the ceramics community, with a focus on scientific research, emerging technologies, and applications in which ceramic materials are an element. ACerS is located ...

* 2012 Elected a fellow of the

* 2013 Elected a fellow of the

* 2013 Top 25 Women Professors in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Selected publications

Her publications include * A second-generation reactive empirical bond order (REBO) potential energy expression for hydrocarbons * Model of carbon nanotube growth through

chemical vapor deposition Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high-quality, and high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In typical CVD, the wafer (electro ...

Carbon nanotube A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with a diameter in the nanometre range ( nanoscale). They are one of the allotropes of carbon. Two broad classes of carbon nanotubes are recognized: * ''Single-walled carbon nanotubes'' (''S ...

s: synthesis, properties, and applications * Effect of chemical functionalization on the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinnott, Susan University of Texas at Austin alumni Pennsylvania State University faculty Women materials scientists and engineers American materials scientists Iowa State University alumni University of Kentucky faculty University of Florida faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society Year of birth missing (living people) Living people