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School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences |
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Research Interests:
Statistical mechanics of polymers and polyelectrolytes, liquid crystals, biomolecular modelling, macromolecular solutions and interfacial phenomena.
Biography
Cliff Woodward obtained his BSc (Hons) at Sydney University, where he also completed a PhD (1986) in Theoretical Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Sture Nordholm. During the period 1986-1991 he was a post-doctoral and then research fellow at Lund University (Sweden) where he also became Docent. He returned to Australia in 1991 to take up a lecturership at University College. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1994, and Associate Professor in 2005.
Research
Density functional theory of liquids
We have developed new density functional approaches for complex liquids. In particular polymer fluids and mixtures. Projects include modeling polymers and polymer nanoparticle mixtures, we are interested in studying symmetry breaking and surface phase transitions.
Dynamic phase transitions in forced systems
We study non-equilibrium thermodynamics in systems undergoing forced diffusion/s. Bifurcation methods applied to nonlinear dynamical systems are used to uncover far from equilibrium phase transitions.
Electrostatics in biomolecular systems
We are developing new approaches to the modeling of electrostatic interactions in proteins and other biomolecules. New expansion methods are being developed to solve Poisson-Boltzmann problems in variable dielectric environments. We use these to study proteinprotein interactions for example.
Polymers in random media
We are beginning a study of polymers in random media, using a combination of non-replica density functional methods and computer simulations. Studies will include capillary phase transitions, and polymer localization as a function of pore size and polymer density.
Simulation methods for complex fluids
We have developed new simulation methods using novel asymmetric volume fluctuations to model macromolecules in pores and slits. Umbrella sampling methods are being developed to minimize bottlenecks in large systems.
Recent Achievements
Toward the end of 2007, I made
two major breakthroughs in the
development of the theory of density
functional theory for polymer fluids:
• I developed a new theory for
treating polydispersed polymer
fluids (variable molecular weights).
My new approach shows that,
while the numerical effort
involved in solving monodispersed
systems scales linearly with the
polymer molecular weight, the
effort involved for polydispersed
systems scales with the “degree of
polydispersity”. The latter number
is some several orders of magnitude
lower. So we are able to fully solve
a more complex problem in a much
easier way! This work has been
accepted for publication in Phys Rev
Letts in 2008.
• The so-called “inversion
problem” in polymer theory relates
to one’s ability to determine the
forces that need to be applied to
a polymer in order to bring about
a certain average configuration.
This problem had been posed and
remained unsolved for decades.
I have now shown that it can
be solved for flexible polymers
by looking at a different class of
configuration descriptors (than
those normally applied to the
problem). This work evolved from
other workers’ attempts to solve this
problem in recent years. This work is
currently under review with Journal
of Chemical Physics.
Since then, I
have recently discovered how to do
this for semi-flexible polymers.
Research Collaborators
Dr T. Akesson (University of Lund, Sweden)
Dr J. Forsman (University of Lund, Sweden)
Prof. B. Jonsson (University of Lund,
Sweden)
Dr M. Lund (Academy of Sciences, Czech
Republic)
Prof. S. Ranganathan (RMC Kingston Ontario
Canada)
Dr M. Ullner (University of Lund, Sweden)
Prof. A. Yethiraj (University of Wisconsin)
PhD Opportunities and Scholarships
If you are interested in a PhD or
Masters by Research:
Contact:
Associate Professor Cliff Woodward, c.woodward@adfa.edu.au
Further information concerning scholarships at: http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/pems/student/pgrescourses.html
Recent Publications
Journal - refereed
Turesson, M., Woodward C. E., Akesson, T., Forsman, J., 2008, Simulations of surface forces in polyelectrolyte solutions, J Phys Chem. (doi: 10.1021/ jp800632e CCC, published on the web April 3 2008).
Woodward, C. E., Forsman, J., 2008, Density functional theory for polymer fluids with molecular weight polydispersity, Phys Rev Letts 100(9), 098301-1 - 098301-4, doi:10.1103/ PhysRevLett.100.098301.
Forsman, J., Woodward, C. E., 2007, Surface forces at restricted equilibrium, in solutions containing finite or infinite semiflexible polymers, Macromolecules, 40(23), 8396-8408.
Lund, M., Jonsson, B., Woodward, C. E., 2007, Implications of a high dielectric constant in proteins, Journal of Chemical Physics, 126(22), 225103/1-225103/8.
Forsman, J. & Woodward, C. E., 2006, Surface forces in solutions containing rigid polymers: Approaching the rod limit, Macromolecules, 39(3), 1269-1278.
Forsman, J. & Woodward, C. E., 2006, Surface forces in solutions containing semiflexible polymers, Macromolecules, 39(3), 1261-1268.
Forsman, J. & Woodward, C. E., 2006, Surface transition in athermal polymer solutions, Physical Review E, 73(5), 1-10.
Woodward, C. E. & Forsman, J., 2006, Density functional theory for flexible and semiflexible polymers of infinite length, Physical Review E, 74(1), 1-4.