Summary
My goal as a physicist is to develop a clearer understanding of quantum phases of matter and their transitions. I am driven to develop a "picture-first" understanding that guides me through any analytical frameworks. To gain further insight I have often turned to numerics, not hesitating to learn whatever methods are called for. My projects have ranged from understanding flight in superfluids, requiring GPU-accelerated PDE solvers, to studying the phases of the fermionic dimer model, requiring custom built exact diagonalization code that can reach 120 sites.
My passion for picture-first physics extends to helping students think about physics pictorially. I have pursued this throughout college and graduate school in a number of teaching and mentoring positions.
Education
PhD Candidate in Condensed Matter Theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, US
June, 2018: MASt (MSc equivalent) with distinction in Applied Mathematics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
June 2017: BA with honors in Physics, BS with honors in Mathematics, University of Chicago, Chicago, US
Honors and Awards
2018 - 2019 - Thomas Frank Scholar, MIT
2017 - 2022 - NSF Graduate Fellow, MIT
2017 - 2018 - Churchill Scholar, University of Cambridge
2017 - John Haeseler Lewis Prize, best graduating physics student, University of Chicago
2017 - Enrico Fermi Institute Undergraduate Research Award, University of Chicago
2017 - James Franck Institute Undergraduate Research Award, University of Chicago
2016 - Goldwater Scholar, University of Chicago
2016 - Selove Prize, University of Chicago
2016 - Phi Beta Kappa, University of Chicago
Publications
Fractionalization as an alternate to charge ordering in electronic insulators
S. Musser, Y.-H. Zhang, D. Sheng, T. Senthil
In preparation
S. Musser, H. Goldman, T. Senthil
S. Musser, T. Senthil
S. Musser, T. Senthil, D. Chowdhury
S. Musser, D. Chowdhury, P. A. Lee, T. Senthil
S. Musser, D. Proment, M. Onorato, W. T. M. Irvine
Talks
APS March Meeting - March 2024
UK Quantum fluids network - January 2024
Invited speaker. Based on work found in: Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 154502 (2019)
UMD Condensed Matter Theory Center - December 2023
Invited speaker
UIUC Anthony J. Leggett Institute for Condensed Matter Theory - November 2023
Invited speaker
Condensed matter theory: an introduction
Center for Security and Emerging Technology - May 2023
Invited speaker
Novel probes of emergent phenomena
EPiQS symposium for postdoctoral scholars - April 2023
Invited panelist
APS March Meeting - March 2023
Based on work found in: arXiv: 2310.04495
APS March Meeting - March 2022
Based on work found in: Phys. Rev. B 106, 155145 (2022)
Cornell Quantum Theory Seminar - December 2021
Invited speaker. Based on work found in: Phys. Rev. B 106, 155145 (2022)
The semiclassical and quantum Kitaev model
Chowdhury group meeting - October 2021
Invited talk at Cornell
APS March Meeting - March 2021
Based on work found in: Phys. Rev. B 105, 125105 (2022)
Quantum Spin Liquids: Kitaev Model
MIT Journal Club 101 - October 2020
Quantum Spin Liquids: Disorder and Frustration
MIT Journal Club 101 - September 2020
APS Division of Fluid Dynamics - November 2019
Based on work found in: Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 154502 (2019)
Particle-Vortex Duality
Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics (NESM) Journal Club - January 2018
Invited speaker. This talk was a distilled version of my Particle Vortex Essay written in 2018 during my MASt at Cambridge University.
Vortex Νucleation in Superfluids
ChuSOARS - November 2017
I will introduce superfluids and the vortex excitations they contain. I will also discuss how to produce these excitations via nucleation from moving objects.
Poisson Geometry with Applications to the Hamiltonian Formulation of Inviscid Fluid Mechanics
Chicago Mathematics REU - August 2015
This talk was a distilled version of my 2015 REU paper From Hamiltonian Systems to Poisson Geometry.
Teaching Experience
2024 - 8.334, graduate statistical field theory, MIT, TA under Prof. Mehran Kardar
2022 - 8.231, undergraduate solid state, MIT, TA under Prof. Xiao-Gang Wen
2021 - 8.06, undergraduate quantum III, MIT, TA under Prof. Maxim Metlitski
2018 - 2022 - 8.223, Lagrangian mechanics, MIT, TA under Prof. Michael Williams
2014 - 2017 - MATH 13000s, intro calculus sequence, University of Chicago, TA under graduate students
Service Activities
2023 - current, Project SHORT, mentor for this nonprofit that offers pro bono mentoring for physics graduate school admissions to diversify the admissions pool
2023 - Lunch with physicists, worked with MIT's society of physics students to expose incoming first years to life in physics
2023 - Spoke to policymakers, discussed CMT and related technologies with policymakers at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology
2020, 2023 - Directed Reading Program, mentored two undergraduates on projects in High-Tc and Hall viscosity, MIT
2020 - 2021 - Physics mentor, mentored undergraduates through COVID disruption, MIT
2020 - Journal Club 101, founded a remote journal club for beginning graduate students in CMT during COVID disruption, MIT