Meet Professor Dominic John Tildesley, the new Director of CECAM
© 2013 EPFL
Professor Dominic John Tildesley is the new Director of EPFL’s European Center for Atomic and Molecular Computation (CECAM). With a strong background in atomic and large-scale computational modeling, he brings experience, expert knowledge and a new vision for the Center.
On January 1st, 2013 Professor Tildesley took up the role of Director for CECAM, the European Center for Atomic and Molecular Computation (Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire). Having received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in the UK in Liquid State Theory, he went on to postdoc at Cornell University and Pennsylvania State University in the United States. Upon his return to the UK, he worked at Southampton University and Imperial College in London before joining Unilever in 1998. Having announced his retirement from Unilever and while seeking a new adventure, Prof. Tildesley applied for and was offered the position of Director of CECAM in EPFL.
An avid fan of computer modeling, Prof. Tildesley first became fascinated with programming as an undergraduate student in the seventies on a summer job with IBM, often staying well past his working hours to explore personal projects and develop his skills in the APL programming language. After completing his degree, he knew that he wanted to combine programming with the more theoretical aspects of chemistry, and decided to explore statistical mechanics rather than more conventional routes for the chemist of electronic structure calculations.
Prof. Tildesley’s research interests began with the modeling of liquids and polymers in relation to interfaces, but now extend to large-scale phenomena like lubrication. The field has been revolutionized in the past 50 years by enormous software and hardware advances that enable computation of material properties, e.g. the optical properties of quantum dots or the behavior of membrane-bound proteins. It is also possible to model quantum dynamics, e.g. the making and breaking of chemical bonds in an enzymatic reaction or dislocations on a metal surface. In addition, modelers are learning to move gracefully between atomic and larger scales like bacterial processes or the propagation of a crack on an airplane’s wing.
The mission of CECAM is to promote research in applying powerful computational methods to problems in science and technology. But that’s not all. Prof. Tildesley says: “CECAM is primarily about knowledge, and the transfer of knowledge at a high level. It exists as a network of people across Europe who collaborate and put on workshops in these leading areas – to discuss and chart out where the field is going, what the obstacles are and how they may be overcome.”
This networking is the driving force behind Prof. Tildesley’s vision for the future of CECAM: “I want to pull the current nodes of CECAM together, to create an organization that is greater than the sum of its parts.” He is keen to begin thinking more broadly about the training needs of young scientists in Europe and, where possible, to support industry in its growth agenda for modeling. Finally, he envisions a point where CECAM can become a trusted partner of funding bodies, offering clear, evidence-based advice and support in terms of creating a road map for modeling in Europe.
And how is the Director of CECAM finding his new job? “This is a beautiful place to work”, he says. “I feel strongly supported by EPFL, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the School of Basic Sciences. The challenges we all face together are to tackle some new fields, run innovative workshops and to step out of our comfort zone to look at new areas of application for computational modeling.”