de Pablo Group

Hadi Ramezani-Dakhel

Hadi was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He earned his BS and MS degrees in polymer engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology. Prior to his PhD studies, he assumed several research and teaching positions in research companies and teaching centers. He obtained his PhD degree (2015) in polymer engineering from the University of Akron in the Heinz laboratory (currently at University of Colorado, Boulder). His graduate research has mainly focused on discovering the design principles of biological molecules for the growth of metal nanocrystals of controlled shape and size through facet-selective interactions. Furthermore, he developed a polarizable model for accurate simulation of fcc metals at biological interfaces and charged environments. Additionally, he developed the first models of specific carbohydrate polymer hydrogels for use in major healthcare products. Hadi was awarded the Eastman Chemical Company Fellowship, the Frank N. Kelley Graduate Student Award, the Ticona Excellence in Engineering Award, and an UASIS Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award. Currently, Hadi is a joint postdoc in the de Pablo group at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Roux group at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In his free time, Hadi enjoys playing ping pong, watching movies, and playing and listening to music.

Recent advances in nano and biotechnology have provided unprecedented opportunities for the design of new materials with superior functionalities. Despite these opportunities, the tremendous potentials of these new materials haven’t been fully exploited because a clear understanding of their working mechanisms is lacking. Hadi’s research focuses on providing clear answers to some of the long-lasting questions in materials science using modeling and simulations combined with collaborative experiments. His research interests revolve around three aspects of computational materials science: (i) Development of accurate force fields (polarizable and non-polarizable) for the simulations of inorganic and bio/organic materials; (ii) Design of large-scale simulations to study fundamental problems related to the rational design of materials; and (iii) Development of software programs to perform continuum-level calculations, atomistic simulations, advanced post-processing analysis, and advanced sampling techniques. 

Amphiphile-Induced Phase Transition of Liquid Crystals at Aqueous Interfaces

Ramezani-Dakhel, Hadi, et al. "Amphiphile-Induced Phase Transition of Liquid Crystals at Aqueous Interfaces." ACS applied materials & interfaces 10.43 (2018): 37618-37624.

Ssages: Software suite for advanced general ensemble simulations

Sidky, Hythem, et al. "Ssages: Software suite for advanced general ensemble simulations." The Journal of chemical physics 148.4 (2018): 044104.

Water Flux Induced Reorientation of Liquid Crystals

Ramezani-Dakhel, Hadi, et al. "Water Flux Induced Reorientation of Liquid Crystals." ACS central science 3.12 (2017): 1345-1349.

Segregation of liquid crystal mixtures in topological defects

Rahimi, Mohammad, et al. "Segregation of liquid crystal mixtures in topological defects." Nature communications 8 (2017): 15064.

Molecular Structure of Canonical Liquid Crystal Interfaces

Sadati, Monirosadat, et al. "Molecular Structure of Canonical Liquid Crystal Interfaces." Journal of the American Chemical Society 139.10 (2017): 3841-3850.

Understanding Atomic-Scale Behavior of Liquid Crystals at Aqueous Interfaces

Ramezani-Dakhel, Hadi, et al. "Understanding Atomic-Scale Behavior of Liquid Crystals at Aqueous Interfaces." Journal of chemical theory and computation 13.1 (2016): 237-244.