Sam Dawley
Sam Dawley

Graduate Student Researcher

Princeton University
Researching methods in inverse statistical mechanics for the targeted design of next-generation materials.

Experience

Graduate Research Assistant

Princeton University

  • Designed and implemented novel scalable CPU and GPU parallelized algorithms in HPC environments for many-body physics simulations.
Related: S. J. Dawley and S. Torquato, Phys. Rev. E, 112, 045310 (2025)

Research Intern

Platform for the Accelerated Realization, Analysis, and Discovery of Interface Materials

With Dr. David Elbert and Prof. Tyrel McQueen, advanced strategies for real-time data analysis and autonomous experimental control using statistical learning algorithms.

Laboratory Technician

Massachusetts General Hospital

With Dr. Tristan Kooistra and Dr. Benjamin Medoff, studied response of airway epithelium cells to lung inflammation and scarring for an increased understanding of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Developed an algorithm to analyze the spatial distribution of cultured cells to visualize inflammation patterning.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Johns Hopkins University

  • Quantified internal state dynamics of light- and heavy-metal diatoms using coupled-cluster theory for modeling vibrational lifetimes of optically-trapped molecules subject to blackbody radiation.
  • Computationally modeled organic, aromatic cycloparaphenylenes using density-functional theory to explore their novel, hybrid radial-linear conjugation pathways; developed a Python package to calculate the nucleus independent chemical shifts for quantifying the strength of electron delocalization in aromatic molecules.
Related: Vilas, et al., Phys. Rev. A, 107, 062802 (2023)

Education

Ph.D. in Chemistry

Princeton University

Advised by Prof. Salvatore Torquato in the Complex Materials and Theory Group.

B.A. in Chemistry and Applied Mathematics & Statistics

Johns Hopkins University

Advised by Prof. Lan Cheng and Prof. J. D. Tovar.

  • 3+ years experience assisting teaching in courses spanning subjects in chemistry and applied mathematics.
  • In 2023, recipient of the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award by the Maryland Section of the American Chemical Society.