Michele Simoncelli

Simoncelli's group develops the theoretical and computational framework to understand, quantitatively describe, and control quantum transport phenomena in solids and liquids involving, e.g., charge, heat, light and spin, their possible synergies or conflicts, and related macroscopic signatures. The ambition is twofold: first, to evolve current materials for storage and management of information or energy, and second, to innovate on existing applications or even conceive new ones, in collaboration with experimentalists and industry.

The technical interests of the group revolve around transport equations for quantum excitations, techniques to coarse-grain atomistic formulations into continuum models or constitutive relations for device design, and the development of methods to solve - with quantitative accuracy - problems ranging from the atomistic to the continuum scale.

The group fosters an inclusive, supportive, and innovative environment, where every member can reach their full potential and work on a mission greater than themselves.

Michele Simoncelli will be a tenure-track professor in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics at Columbia University starting in January 2025. From fall 2021 to 2024, he held the Crone Research Fellowship in the Physics Department at the University of Cambridge. There, he worked on fundamental quantum theory and computational methods to describe the emergence of hybrid crystal-glass properties in materials with controlled degrees of atomistic disorder in, e.g., chemical composition, bond-network topology, or geometry. He received his PhD from EPFL (Switzerland) in May 2021, presenting in his thesis novel microscopic and mesoscopic theories of thermal transport in solids: the Wigner transport equation, generalizing the semiclassical Peierls-Boltzmann equation, and the viscous heat equations, generalizing Fourier's law. Prior to his PhD, he received a master's degree in Physics of Complex Systems from Politecnico di Torino (Italy), with a thesis discussing the statistical and molecular physics that determines the efficiency of capacitive devices used to produce drinkable water.