Nicholas Liesen is a postdoctoral researcher in the Reaction Dynamics Group, where he works to provide molecular level insight into the behavior of polymers through atomistic and coarse grained simulations. His current research focuses on characterizing the high strain rate strength response of polyimides, and using molecular dynamics to map out the changes in structure, chain conformation, and molecular level mechanisms operative at these high strain rates.

Prior to joining the lab, he was a doctoral student at the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the Ohio State University, jointly advised by Professors Isamu Kusaka and Lisa Hall. As a graduate student his research focused on ion containing polymers, nanostructured polymer systems, small molecule liquids, and nanofluids. These projects included collaborations with experimental researchers at AFRL, NIST, and other universities. In particular, Nick participated in a summer fellowship at the AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, where he used Molecular Dynamics simulations to study connections between architecture, chain conformations, entanglements, and mechanical properties of polymer grafted nanoparticle monolayers.

 

Subject Matter Expertise:

Polymer Physics, Atomistic and Coarse-Grained Simulations, Molecular Dynamics, Soft Matter

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2022

B.S. Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2016

Selected Publications:

Nicholas T. Liesen, Meng Wang, Mehrnoosh Taghavimehr, Jae Sang Lee, Reza Montazami, Lisa M.Hall, and Matthew D. Green, “The influence of spacer composition on thermomechanical properties, crystallinity, and morphology in ionene segmented copolymers”, Soft Matter, 17, 5508-5523 (2021)

Nicholas T. Liesen, Gabriel A. Palermo, Isamu Kusaka and Shunji Egusa “Measurement and prediction of kinematic viscosity for linear ethers”, J. Chem. Phys., 153, 024502 (2020)

Isamu Kusaka and Nicholas T. Liesen “Integrating dissipative particle dynamics with energy conservation”, Phys. Rev. E, 101(4), 042120 (2020)