Tommy Sewell
Professor of Chemistry; Adjunct Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
202A Schlundt
Phone: 573-882-7725
Email: SewellT@missouri.edu
Biography
Tommy Sewell has been a chemistry professor at Mizzou since 2008; full professor of chemistry since 2012 and adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering since 2016. Prior to that, he was a technical staff member for 15 years in the Explosives and Organic Materials Group of the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Sewell was named Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2017 for his sustained contributions to the field of Shock Compression of Condensed Matter. While at Mizzou, Sewell has received federal research grants from AFOSR, ARO, DTRA and ONR. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of a DoD/AFOSR “MURI” project entitled, “Integrating Multiscale Modeling and Experiments to Develop a Meso-Informed Predictive Capability for Explosives Safety and Performance.” Research in Sewell’s group is focused on atomistic and mesocale simulations of materials – it is strongly interdisciplinary, involving collaborations with chemists, materials scientists, engineers and experts in machine learning. Sewell is always on the lookout for well-prepared and highly motivated graduate students with backgrounds in physical chemistry, materials science and engineering.
Education
PhD from Oklahoma State University
BSc from Hardin-Simmons University
Technical Focus
Materials at extreme conditions
Materials theory and simulation
Multiscale methods at atomistic and mesoscopic scales
Research
Atomic, mesoscopic, and scale-bridging simulations and theory of organic molecular materials, polymers, and nano/mesoscale composites.
Development and implementation of methods for reliable predictions of condensed phase physical properties (mechanical/thermal), processes (kinetics and thermodynamics of phase transitions), and chemical reactivity (chemically reactive fluid flow).
Material response under isentropic or shock wave loading.
Formulation and parameterization of potential-energy functions suitable for calculations under thermodynamic extremes.
Theoretical and computational chemical dynamics of complicated molecular and condensed phase systems, classical, semiclassical, and electronic structure tools.