William Klein

Professor (Physics, MSE, ECE)

Office 590 Commonwealth Ave, SCI 320
Email klein@bu.edu
Phone 617-353-2188

Publications:

03/07/11 New Approach to Gutenberg-Richter Scaling
01/11/10 Cellular Automaton Model of Damage
04/14/09 Early time kinetics of systems with spatial symmetry breaking
03/02/07 Transient nucleation near the mean-field spinodal

Research Areas

My research interests include the kinetics of phase transitions, the physics of earthquakes and the study of damage in materials. The study of the kinetics of phase transitions involves understanding nucleation from metastable states, the evolution of unstable states and the formation of glasses. The study of earthquakes involves constructing models, both mathematical and numerical, of earthquake fault systems understanding the physics of these models and applying this understanding to predict the behavior of actual fault systems. Understanding the physics of damage involves understanding how damage is created in materials and how the damage affects processes such as phase transitions and fracture. The methods we use to study these problems include statistical field theories, stochastic methods such as the Langevin and Fokker-Planck equation and simulations including Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics and non-Boltzmann sampling methods.

Honors and Awards

Fellow, American Physical Society, 2010

Additional Affiliations

Division of Materials Science & Engineering
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Departments or Divisions: Electrical & Computer Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering

Affiliation: Primary & Affiliated Faculty

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