Susan Buthaina Sinnott is professor and head of materials science 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 Pennsylvan ...

. Sinnott is a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

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 14,000 materials researchers from academi ...

(MRS), the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(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 k ...

(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 highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the journal ''

Computational Materials Science ''Computational Materials Science'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. It was established in October 1992. The editor-in-chief is Susan Sinnott. The journal covers computational modeling and practical research fo ...

'' 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 research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. She moved to

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

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. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

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. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. In 2000 she was recruited to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

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 any material with a crystal structure following the formula ABX3, which was first discovered as the mineral called perovskite, which consists of calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3). The mineral was first discovered in the Ural mou ...

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

of the scientific journal ''

'' since 2014. Her principal research interests at Penn State University include

two-dimensional In mathematics, a plane is a Euclidean (flat), two-dimensional surface that extends indefinitely. A plane is the two-dimensional analogue of a point (zero dimensions), a line (one dimension) and three-dimensional space. Planes can arise as s ...

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 phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the sub ...

Selected awards and honours

Her awards include: * 2005 Elected a fellow of the

American Vacuum Society AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and ProcessingAIP: A Federation of the Physical Sciences

* 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. As also confirmed by various measurement standards, which include the ''Journa ...

'' * 2010 Elected a fellow of the

* 2011 Elected a fellow of the

American Ceramic Society The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a non-profit professional organization for the ceramics community, with a focus on scientific research, emerging technologies, and applications in which ceramic materials are an element. It is located in W ...

* 2012 Elected a fellow of the

* 2013 Elected a fellow of the

* 2013 Top 25 Women Professors in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

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 * Carbon nanotubes: 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