Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering
1640 G.G. Brown Laboratory
2350 Hayward
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125
phone: 734.763.9685
About
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Broad research focus in Gavini's group has been the development of large-scale quantum accurate methods to understand materials properties. His research group has developed real-space formulations of ab-initio methods, associated computational methods and algorithms, and scalable numerical implementations on hybrid high performance computing platforms. These developments resulted in the open-source DFT-FE code, which is a massively parallel GPU-accelerated density functional theory code based on adaptive higher-order finite-element basis for fast and accurate large-scale real-space DFT calculations on tens of thousands of atoms. Further, the work on advancing the model accuracy of DFT calculations by bridging DFT with quantum many body methods is paving the path to bringing the DFT accuracy close to quantum accuracy. These developments are aimed at comprehensively breaking through the size-accuracy barrier in electronic structure calculations and enabling ab-initio simulations at unprecedented accuracy and system size. These advances in large-scale ab-initio calculations are being used to investigate the energetics of defects in crystalline materials, the electronic structure underpinnings of defect energetics, and their implications to macroscopic mechanical behavior of materials. The ability of DFT-FE to handle large-scale DFT calculations has also enabled recent electronic structure studies on quasicrystals, biomolecules and 2D materials. Gavini's other research interests include understanding materials properties under extreme environments, multi-scale methods, numerical analysis of approximation theories and scientific computing.
HONORS AND AWARDS
- ACM Gordon Bell Prize, 2023
- ME Achievement Award, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2020
- Finalist, ACM Gordon Bell Prize, 2019
- Gallagher Young Investigator Award, awarded by the United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM), 2015
- Humboldt Research Fellowship (Experienced Researcher), awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt foundation, Germany, 2012-2014
- Young Investigator Award, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, 2013
- NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 2011
- Robert J. Melosh Medal, awarded by a consortium including Duke University, ETH Zürich, Elsevier and International Association for Computational Mechanics, 2007
- Allan Acosta Endowed Fellowship, California Institute of Technology, 2003
