Francken Friday Lecture with Andrea Giuntoli, the new professor in the micromechanics department of the Zernike Institute of Advanced materials. He will give a lecture on the following topic:
 
The third way: molecular modelling between physics and material design  
 
New knowledge in interdisciplinary fields emerges from the complex communication between a wide range of skill sets. The design of novel materials requires an understanding of both the fundamental nanoscale physics and the macro-scale engineering requirements of a functional product. Molecular modelling is an invaluable tool to observe the nanoscale behaviour of new materials, sitting at the interface between theory and experiments, and between fundamental research and engineering applications. I will briefly discuss the role of molecular modelling in Material Science. I will then show how, thanks to molecular dynamics simulations, theoretical advancements on the molecular relaxations of liquids are leading to new polymer-based impact-resistant materials, and other similar contributions connecting fundamental physics and material design.