Limmer Research Group
Limmer Group
University of California, Berkeley
Recent News
Students of chemical physics, soft matter, biophysics, or anyone interested
in understanding the visible world through a lens of its molecular constituents should check out
Statistical Mechanics and Stochastic Thermodynamics, available for preorder
— limmerlab
May 27,
2024
Check out Jorge's latest, first in the group, in which he develops what
we call variational time reversal, a formalism and algorithm to compute distributions of
collective variables in nonequilibrium steady-states and active matter
@UCB_Chemistry
@NSF
pic.twitter.com/cnnCzUi1Vh
— limmerlab
June 4,
2024
Very proud of this one, Leonardo's first in the group, in which he
deduces the microscopic origin of the observations from the
@DKBediako
group that electron
transfer is enhanced at the magic angle of twisted bilayer graphene
@UCB_Chemistry
@KavliENSI
pic.twitter.com/rerAAB8GJn
— limmerlab
May 3,
2024
Pleased to see Sam’s first group paper with Haimei
@HaimeiZheng
’s group
understanding how phase transitions in nanocrystals are modulated by long ranged elastic
interactions
pic.twitter.com/oP734XJiXP
— limmerlab
April 4,
2024
Such a fun time this week at the Greater Boston Area student invited TheoChem
seminar series. Thanks to all of the students at
@BUChemistry
@ChemistryMIT
and
@HarvardCCB
that hosted me and
told me about their science! Check out their schedule:
pic.twitter.com/hSdNaNMZg8
— limmerlab
April 4,
2024
Happy to see Michelle's latest effort with
@AmrDodin
and
@TomPFay
to generalize the notion
of a transition state to a quantum mechanical system--here by assigning committor probabilities
to super-positions of states
@UCB_Chemistry
pic.twitter.com/n6gRTQ4KLZ
— limmerlab
March 29,
2024
So nice to give a student invited lecture
@PrincetonChem
today! Thank
you to all of the students and postdocs you shared their science and to Leo and
@TomPFay
for doing such exciting
work on electron transfer that I was able to share
@UCB_Chemistry
pic.twitter.com/dZcdNtPSks
— limmerlab
March 28,
2024
Older Limmer group news here
Group members
We are a group of theorists, who represent and value all backgrounds and identities,
including ethnicity, race, nationality, gender identity, sexuality, disability status, age,
socioeconomic status, religion, and culture.
David Limmer
Principal Investigator
Fellow at PCTS, 2013-2016
Ph.D. UC Berkeley, 2013
B.S. New Mexico Tech, 2008
dlimmer@berkeley.edu
Eric R Heller
Postdoctoral Researcher
Ph.D. ETH Zürich, 2023
M.S. TU Dresden, 2019
B.S. TU Dresden, 2016
hellere@berkeley.edu
Sindhana Pannir-Sivajothi
Postdoctoral Research
Ph.D. UC San Diego, 2023
BS.-M.S. IISc Bangalore, 2018
sindhanaps@berkeley.edu
Andres Valiente
Postdoctoral Research
Ph.D. UC Berkeley, 2026
BA. UC Berkeley, 2020
andresfranco@berkeley.edu
Faisal Alsallom
Graduate Student
B.S. MIT, 2023
alsallom@berkeley.edu
Songela Chen
Graduate Student
B.S. MIT, 2019
songela@berkeley.edu
Leonardo Coello Escalante
Graduate Student
B.S. National Autonomous
U. of Mexico, 2020
leonardo.coello@berkeley.edu
Sohom Das
Graduate Student
M.S. JNCASR, 2024
B.S. St. Xavier's College Kolkata, 2021
sohom_das@berkeley.edu
Seokjin Moon
Graduate Student
B.S. Seoul National University, 2017
seokjin_moon@berkeley.edu
Sam Oaks-Leaf
Graduate Student
B.S. Brown University, 2021
sam_oaks@berkeley.edu
Rohit Rana
Graduate Student
B.S. University of Florida, 2022
rohit_rana@berkeley.edu
Ygor de Santana Moura
Graduate Student
B.S. MIT, 2024
ygor@berkeley.edu
Joseph Slivka
Graduate Student
B. S. Michigan State University, 2020
jslivka@berkeley.edu
Yangzhou Xia
Graduate Student
M. S. Oxford University, 2025
B. S. Oxford University, 2024
yangzhou.xia@berkeley.edu
Viola Zhao
Graduate Student
B. S. UC Berkeley, 2026
zhaozixin@berkeley.edu
Phillip Jeong
Undergraduate Student
B. S. Chemistry, CS, 2025 (expected)
pjeong3120@berkeley.edu
Click for Alumni
Amael Obliger
Postdoctoral Researcher
2017-2019
Assistant Professor
Université de Bordeaux
amael.obliger@univ-pau.fr
Amikam Levy
Postdoctoral Researcher
2018-2020
Assistant Professor
Bar Ilan University
amikamlevy@gmail.com
Mirza Galib
Postdoctoral Researcher
2018-2021
Assistant Professor
Howard University
miz.galib@gmail.com
Samuel Niblett
Postdoctoral Researcher
2018-2021
Postdoctoral Researcher
Cambridge University
sniblett402@gmail.com
Phillip Helms
Postdoctoral Researcher
2022-2023
Research Scientist
Northup Grumman
pbhelms12@gmail.com
Anthony Poggioli
Postdoctoral Researcher
2020-2023
Quality Auditor
Scale AI
poggiolianthony@gmail.com
Thomas Fay
Postdoctoral Researcher
2021-2024
Assistant Professor
UCLA
tom.patrick.fay@gmail.com
Amro Dodin
Postdoctoral Researcher
2022-2025
Assistant Professor
Ohio State
adodin@lbl.gov
Kritanjan Polley
Postdoctoral Researcher
2022-2025
Fellow
NYU Simons Center
kpolley@berkeley.edu
Ashesh Ghosh
Postdoctoral Researcher
2023-2025
ashesh@berkeley.edu
Jorge Rosa-Raices
Postdoctoral Researcher
2022-2025
Einstein Visiting Fellow
Freie Universität Berlin
j.rosa-raices@fu-berlin.deu
Eric J. Heller
Postdoctoral Researcher
2022-2025
Fellow
NYU Simons Center
kpolley@berkeley.edu
Chloe Gao
Graduate Student
2016-2021
Head of Operations
Primerli
chloegao12@gmail.com
Trevor Grand Pre
Graduate Student
2016-2021
Assistant Professor
Wash. U, St. Louis
trevorg@wustl.edu
Addison Schile
Graduate Student
2016-2021
Developer
Schrodinger
addschile@gmail.com
Avishek Das
Graduate Student
2017-2022
Professor
Durham University
avishek_das@berkeley.edu
Yoonjae Park
Graduate Student
2018-2023
Postdoctoral Researcher
MIT
yoonpark@mit.edu
Michelle Anderson
Graduate Student
2019-2024
Postdoctoral Researcher
Rochestor University
mca@berkeley.edu
Aditya Singh
Graduate Student
2020-2025
Postdoc Fellow, CCTCh
University of Chicago
ansingh@berkeley.edu
Seokjin Moon
Graduate Student
2021-2026
Postdoc Fellow
PNNL
ansingh@berkeley.edu
Leonardo Coello-Escalante
Graduate Student
2021-2026
Postdoc Fellow
Flatiron Institute
ansingh@berkeley.edu
Sam Oaks-Leaf
Graduate Student
2021-2026
Visiting Professor
Haverford College
ansingh@berkeley.edu
Laura Scalfi
Visiting Masters Student
2017-2018
Ph.D. Student
ENS Paris
laura.scalfi@ens.fr
Frank Gao
Undergraduate Student
2018-2019
Ph.D. Student
University of Chicago
frankgao13@berkeley.edu
Nirvaan Khera
Undergraduate Student
2019-2020
Ph.D. Student
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
nirvaank@berkeley.edu
Artur Lyssenko
Undergraduate Student
2020-2022
Ph.D. Student
Harvard University
alyssenko@berkeley.edu
Constantine Kyprianou
Undergraduate Student
2023-2024
Ph.D. Student
MIT
constantinek@berkeley.edu
Ian Jing Yan Lim
Undergraduate Student
2024-2025
Ph.D. Student
Princeton University
ianjylim@berkeley.edu
Phillip Jeong
Undergraduate Student
2024-2026
Ph.D. Student
Caltech University
ianjylim@berkeley.edu
Research
Our research endeavors to advance theoretical descriptions of complex, condensed phase
materials especially in instances where equilibrium ideas do not apply. We do this using concepts
and methods developed by considering contemporary statistical mechanics unified when appropriate
with principles from disparate disciplines in theoretical science. We ultimately aim to derive
effective theories and coarse-grained descriptions and do so with the help of modern numerical
techniques and computer simulation. Inspiration for specific problems comes from close collaboration
with experimentalists studying real physical systems in microscopic or mesoscopic detail. Specific
areas of current interest include the emergent behavior of systems undergoing simple chemical
dynamics in complex environments, the response of nanoscale systems driven far from equilibrium and
the solid-electrolyte interfaces relevant to basic energy science.
Atmospheric Chemistry
Energy Science
Nano-Materials
Biophysics
About David
David Limmer is a Professor in the
Department of
Chemistry at University of California Berkeley
, a Research Scientist in the Materials and
Chemical Sciences Divisions of
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
and a Fellow of the
Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute
. From
2016-2018 he held the Chevron Chair in Chemistry at UC Berkeley. He received his B.S. in chemical
engineering in 2008 from the
New Mexico Institute of Mining and
Technology
, and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley under the
supervision of
David Chandler
. From 2013-2016, David was
an independent fellow of the
Princeton Center for
Theoretical Science
. Throughout his independent career, David has been recognized as a
Heising-Simons Fellow of the Kavli Foundation, a Scialog Fellow of the Research Corporation for Science
and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and a Hellman Fellow. In 2019, he was the recipient of the
Department
of Energy Early Career Award
. In 2021, he was awarded an
Alfred
P. Sloan Fellowship
. In 2022, David was recognized with the
Donald
S. Noyce Prize
for excellence in undergraduate teaching. David is the founder and current acting director for
CECAM-US-WEST
. He is the author of
Statistical Mechanics and Stochastic Thermodynamics
, a graduate textbook on equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics.
[CV]