Bio
Professor Charbonneau studies soft matter. His work combines theory and simulation to understand the glass problem, protein crystallization, microphase formation, and colloidal assembly in external fields.
Education
- B.S. McGill University (Canada), 2001
- Ph.D. Harvard University, 2006
Positions
- Professor of Chemistry
- Director of Graduate Studies of the University Program in Materials Science and Engineering
- Professor of Physics
Awards, Honors, and Distinctions
- Journal of Chemical Physics Top Reviewer. Journal of Chemical Physics. 2018
- Journal of Chemical Physics Top Reviewer. Journal of Chemical Physics. 2016
- Top 20 Reviewers for 2012. Journal of Chemical Physics. 2013
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 2013
- Mention of Teaching Excellence. Duke University. 2012
- Open Eye Award. American Chemical Society. 2011
- Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. National Science Foundation. 2011
- Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 2009
Courses Taught
- POE 105: Spring Breakthrough
- HOUSECS 59: House Course
- CHEM 544: Statistical Mechanics
- CHEM 543: Statistical Thermodynamics
- CHEM 496: Graduation with Distinction in Chemistry
- CHEM 494: Research Independent Study
- CHEM 493: Research Independent Study
- CHEM 394: Research Independent Study
- CHEM 393: Research Independent Study
- CHEM 295: Introduction to Research Independent Study
- CHEM 130L: The Chemistry and Physics of Cooking
- CHEM 110DL: Honors Chemistry: Core Concepts in Context
In the News
- Learning New Subjects During Spring Breakthrough 2023 (Mar 19, 2023 | Duke Today)
- Patrick Charbonneau: Seeking Science's Secrets in the Mysteries of Glass (Jun 29, 2022 | Duke Science & Technology)
- Check This Out: Molecular Chemistry Through Cooking (Mar 25, 2021)
- ‘Seeing the Invisible’ exhibit opens in the Chappell Family Gallery (Mar 7, 2020 | The Chronicle)
- Why Do You Study That? Glass (Mar 4, 2020 | Duke Today)
- Teaching a Machine to Spot a Crystal (Jun 26, 2018 | Duke Research Blog)
- Looking at Cooking as a Science Experiment (Apr 13, 2018 | Duke Research Blog)
- Cheating Time to Watch Liquids do the Slow Dance (Nov 2, 2017 | Duke Research Blog)
- Breaking Glass in Infinite Dimensions (May 30, 2017)
- Duke Professor Teams Up to Crack the Glass Problem (Apr 13, 2016)
- Visualizing how matter changes from one state to another, on an atomic level (Mar 3, 2015)
- Through the Theoretical Glass (Nov 12, 2014 | Duke Today)
- Through the Theoretical Glass (Nov 5, 2014 | American Scientist Pizza Lunch Podcast)
- When Things Get Glassy, Molecules Go Fractal (Apr 24, 2014)
- Spherical Cows Help Turn Proteins to Crystals (Nov 15, 2013 | Duke Research Blog)
- Scientists get best view yet of the structure of glass (Jul 15, 2013 | Smithsonian)
- Chemistry in the Kitchen, Cooking in the Classroom (Apr 10, 2013)
- Sloan Foundation Names Charbonneau, Lu as 2013 Research Fellows (Feb 15, 2013)
Representative Publications
- Altan, Irem, patrick Charbonneau, Susan James, Michelle Quinn, Jennifer McManus, and Amir Khan. “Data and scripts from: Using Schematic Models to Understand the Microscopic Basis for Inverted Solubility in gammaD-crystallin,” September 30, 2019. https://doi.org/10.7924/r4fq9v942.
- Berthier, Ludovic, Giulio Biroli, Patrick Charbonneau, Eric I. Corwin, Silvio Franz, and Francesco Zamponi. “Gardner physics in amorphous solids and beyond.” The Journal of Chemical Physics 151, no. 1 (July 2019): 010901. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5097175.