MaP Award 2015

Dr. Sinead M. Griffin is the winner of the MaP Award 2015. The MaP awards a prize to the best interdisciplinary PhD thesis of ETH Zurich in the area of Materials and Processes.

by Susanne Blatter
MaP Award
 

Sinead Griffin grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She obtained a BA (Mod) in Theoretical Physics from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc, DIC in Quantum Field and Fundamental Forces from the Imperial College London and an MS in Materials Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She then earned her Doctoral degree from the Dept. of Materials at ETH Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Nicola Spaldin. Currently she is continuing her postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

From the early universe to the Hubbard Hamiltonian in the hexagonal manganites

 

Your PhD project in 2 sentences

The physics of the very large (the Big Bang) and the very small (multiferroic materials) were brought together through the formation and understanding of topological defects in a range of multiferroic materials, verifying an early-universe theory in a crystal for the first time. This gave a universal understanding of domains, domain walls and defects in these particular multiferroics, and allowed the design of a related new material that harbors potential exotic superconductivity.

Why did you choose this PhD project?

Searching for and verifying an early-universe theory in the laboratory was an incredibly exciting and fun process! The opportunity to collaborate and discuss with scientists ranging from cosmologists and string theorists to experimental condensed-matter theorists and chemists gave me a unique breadth of experience across the whole scientific discipline. Moreover, it showed me how a material scientist can both benefit from and contribute to fundamental sciences and cutting-edge discoveries in different fields of research.

Future Plans

I wish to continue to see what other cross-fertilizations can benefit physics and materials science. Currently I am investigating novel and fundamental physics in functional and technologically-relevant materials.

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