I’m currently a PhD candidate in Materials Science at Khalifa University, UAE, expected to graduate in December 2026. My research sits in condensed matter physics — electronic structure, topological phases of matter, strongly correlated electron systems, and magnetism, carried out mostly through first-principles calculations in VASP.
Computational modeling can be overwhelming when you’re starting out, and I remember that feeling well. Your advisor asks you to do a “literature review,” and somehow you end up surfing the web just trying to get a single calculation to run, quietly convinced that your only job is to produce “results.”
Have you heard of GIGO — garbage in, garbage out? Every newcomer to computational research passes through a GIGO phase: the numbers come out, but the understanding behind them hasn’t caught up yet. I hope this website helps shorten that phase for someone.
I started writing here to share the research tricks and tips I run into along the way — the kind that aren’t always written down anywhere, or that took me longer to figure out than they should have. Updates are irregular, because research is irregular. Expect the topics to jump around.
For quick, bite-sized lessons, check the Wise Tips page.