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Cynthia Olson Reichhardt

My work centers on the use of large-scale computer simulations to study the dynamics of disordered media in several distinct systems. Although the systems differ greatly in size and in the nature of the interactions between constituent particles, the issues in each are similar. My collaborators and I seek new ways to characterize a system that is out of equilibrium, such as a driven system. We explore the interaction between quenched disorder and intrinsic disorder, such as that induced by thermal melting. We also study the types of structural information that can be extracted from a system by driving it. This includes an understanding and a use of dynamically-induced disorder-order transitions, which can alter transport signatures and noise signatures in experimentally observable ways.