RAZVAN CARACAS


CURRICULUM VITAE

Address * Employment * Education * Research experience * Research grants * Service to the community * Awards * Professional affiliation * Teaching activities * Languages * Other interests

Address

Centre National de Recherche Scientifique
Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre CNRS UMR 5570
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Université de Lyon
46, allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon cedex 07
Tel : +33 4 72 72 89 67, Fax : +33 4 72 72 86 77
url: http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/razvan.caracas/

Employment

2007- : CR1 - Chargé de Recherche, Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France

2007 : Humboldt Fellow, Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

2006-2007: Visiting Scientist, Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

2004-2006: Carnegie Fellow, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA

2003-2004: Post-doctoral/Research associate, University of Minnesota, Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Minneapolis, MN, USA

1997-2003 : Teaching assistant, Catholic University of Louvain, Faculty of Sciences, Geology Dept., Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

1995-1997 : Research assistant, Bucharest University, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, Mineralogy Dept., Bucharest, Romania

Other positions:

2009-2010: Visiting Scientist, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA

2007 : Visiting Scientist, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA

Education

2003 Ph.D. in Material Physics
Université Catholique de Louvain,
"First-principles study of materials involved in incommensurate transitions"
advisor: Prof. Xavier Gonze

2002 DEA (Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies)=M.Sc. in Material Physics ,
Université Catholique de Louvain,
"Ab initio simulations of incommensurate phases"
Advisor: Prof. Xavier Gonze)

1997 B.Sc. in Geology and Geophysics
Bucharest University,
graduation thesis : "Structural morphology of crystals. Application to oxide minerals",
advisor: Prof. Emil Constantinescu

Research experience

1. Theoretical skills

  • Density functional theory
  • Density functional perturbation theory
  • Improved functionals: LDA/GGA+U
  • Pseudopotentials and all-electron based calculations
  • Molecular dynamics
  • Interatomic potentials
  • Codes: ABINIT, PWSCF, SIESTA, Qbox, Wien2K, GULP

    • 2. Computing skills

  • Operating systems: Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, Win5/98/NT/XP
  • Programming: Fortran90, Perl, Matlab, Visual Basic, C, Mathematica
  • Text editors: TeX/LaTeX, vi
  • Office: MSOffice, StarOffice, OpenOffice
  • Graphics and data processing tools: Adobe, AutoCAD, Corel, GIMP, Origin
  • Computational tools: ABINIT, PWSCF, GULP
  • Multimedia: 3Dstudio
  • Misc.: HTML, javascript

    3. Software development

  • FracDim (1995-1996) - Matlab-based software used to measure fractal dimensions of 2D objects (unpublished)
  • Madelung (1997) - Visual Basic software used to compute Madelung energies and electrostatic potentials for ionic crystals (published in Ann. Univ. Buc., Geology, 1998)
  • ATM2DXF (1997) - Visual Basic software used to create *.dxf files of mineral structures (published in the Proceedings vol. of the Romanian Conference on Advanced Materials, Bucharest, 1997).
  • MeandSym (2001) - C software used to create random meander channels with different geostatistical constraints (unpublished)

  • ABINIT programming

    - implementation of the magnetic and non-magnetic symmetry space groups and related subjects
    - development of cut3d, a tool used to build 1-, 2- and 3-Dimensional sections through grid-like crystallographic objects (like electron density, potential, Fermi surface etc)
    - implementation of the automatic construction of the maximally-localized lattice Wannier functions from the calculated phonon band structures (in collaboration with Prof. Karin Rabe, Rutgers University of New Jersey, Dept. of Physics and Astrophysics)
    - utility for automatic generation of the crystal structures of elements for tests of the pseudopotentials

  • Various other crystallographic utilities, mainly dealing with the generation of the symmetry space groups and visualization of the symmetry operations.

    4. Experimental skills

  • ore microscopy
  • fluid inclusions stage


    • 5. Fieldtrips

  • 1997 - fieldtrip on the Sokli carbonatite, Northern Finland
  • 1997-2001 - different short fieldtrips in the metamorphic regions of the Southern Carpathians
  • 1998 - fieldtrip in the metamorphic region of the Maure Mts. and Esterel Mts., Southern France
  • 1998 - fieldtrip in the sedimentary region of the Southern Pyrenees Mts.
  • 2000-2002 - different short fieldtrips in the Paleozoic sedimentary regions of Southern Belgium

    • Research grants

  • WURM - a database of computed Raman spectra for minerals
    Private funding of 225,000 US Dollars, 2007-2011.
    PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Iron distribution in the Earth’s mantle
    INSU support grant, 22,000 Euros, 2008-2009.
    PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Multidisciplinary studies of structures in the deep mantle
    PROCOPE - French-German collaboration grant, 2010-2011.
    PI: Razvan Caracas

  • Mineralogy of the deep Earth from a computational perspective
    DARI Grant x2010106368, 100,000 CPU hours on Bull Itanium @ CCRT, 800,000 CPU hours on SGI @ CINES PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Computational study of Earth and planetary materials
    DARI Grant x20090825134, 80,000 CPU hours on IBM @ IDRIS, 570,000 CPU hours on SGI @ CINES PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Planetary ices and molecular crystals under extreme conditions
    DARI Grant x2009086106, 100,000 CPU hours on IBM @ IDRIS, 120,000 CPU hours on SGI @ CINES PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Computational study of Earth and planetary materials
    NSF grant EAR080015, 179,952 out of 429,952 SUs (= CPU hours) on Teragrid, 2008.
    PIs: Ronald E Cohen and Razvan Caracas
  • Computational study of Earth and planetary materials
    IDRIS/CINES/CCRT Grant x20080825134, 20,000 CPU hours on IBM @ CINES, 20,000 CPU hours on IBM @ IDRIS, 40,000 CPUs hours on Bull @ CCRT/CEA, 2008.
    PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Planetary materials – high-density C-O-N-H fluids
    BSC grant FI-2008-1-0015, 400,000 SUs (=CPU hours) on Caesar Augusta, University of Zaragoza, National Center of Supercomputing, Spain, 2008.
    PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Planetary materials – high-density C-O-N-H fluids
    BSC grant FI-2008-2-0027, 370,000 SUs (=CPU hours) on Caesar Augusta, University of Zaragoza, National Center of Supercomputing, Spain, 2008.
    PI: Razvan Caracas
  • Computational study of Earth and planetary materials
    NSF grant MCA07S009, 100,000 SUs (= CPU hours) on Teragrid, 2007-2008.
    PIs: Ronald E Cohen and Razvan Caracas
  • Computational mineralogy - theory opens a view on the interior of the Earth
    NSF grant EAR050012, 193,056 SUs (= CPU hours) at the NCSA, Urbana-Champaign, 2005-2006.
    PI: Ronald E Cohen, Co-PIs: Razvan Caracas and Burkhard Militzer.
  • Computational study of major minerals present in the Earth's lowermost mantle - software benchmark + preliminary calculations
    NSF grant EAR-04008, 10,000 SUs (= CPU hours) at the Supercomputing Institute of the University of Michigan, 2004-2005.
    PI: Razvan Caracas

    Service to the community

    Member of the Mineral and Rock Physics Committee, in charge with AGU Session Organization, 2009.

    Member of the scientific committee "Thinking Petaflops" of CNRS.

    Member of MHEDOC - the French network of shock physics.


    1. Editorial activities

  • Associated Editor at "Earth, Moon, Planets", responsible for internal structures of the planets.
  • Invited editor at "Chemical Geology" for the Special Issue "Advances in experimental and theoretical isotope geochemistry". Co-editors: M. Roskosz, O. Rouxel

    • 2. Conference organizational activities

    Linear and non-linear responses of solids with the ABINIT software: phonons, electric field, and other perturbation
    2010 CECAM tutorial. Organizer. Co-organizers: X. Gonze, Ph Ghosez

    The Science of Solar System Ices (ScSSI): A Cross-Disciplinary Workshop
    Member of the International Organizing Committee
    May 5-8, 2008, Oxnard, California


    Special sessions:

    The Core-Mantle Boundary
    Special session at 2009 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: K. Hirose, T. Lay

    Ices: from Planetary Interiors to Astrobiology
    Special session at 2009 AGU Fall Meeting
    Co-conveners: I. Daniel, M. Gudipati

    Masters of Terrestrial Igneous Activity: Magmas, Melts and Fluids
    Special session at 2009 AGU Fall Meeting
    Co-conveners: S. Keshav. S. Demouchy, C. Lesher, S.K. Lee

    Mantle Heterogeneity: Bridging the Gap Between Observations and Dynamics
    Special session at 2009 AGU Fall Meeting
    Co-conveners: F. Albarede, T. Becker, J. Ritsema

    New Views on Discontinuities, Composition, and Temperature of the Mantle I: Mantle Mineralogy
    Special session at 2008 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: S. Lee, C. Thomnas, T. Irifune, B. Li

    New Views on Discontinuities, Composition, and Temperature of the Mantle II: Equations of State
    Special session at 2008 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: S. Lee, C. Thomnas, T. Irifune, B. Li

    Low-Z Planetary Materials: From Ice to Life
    Special session at 2008 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: A.D. Fortes, H.P. Scott, W. Montgomery

    N: Computational Approaches and Applications in Earth Materials Studies
    Special session at 2008 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: B.B. Karki, R.M. Wentzcovitch, T. Tsuchiya

    Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Planetary Ices
    Special session at 2007 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: A. Goncharov, J.C. Castillo

    Advances in Computational Studies of Earth Materials
    Special session at 2007 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: T. Tsuchiya, J.D. Gale, R.M. Wentzcovitch, B.B. Karki, M. Mookherje

    Frontiers in Isotope Fractionation in Geomaterials: Theory and Experiments
    Special session at 2007 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and co-convener. Convener: M. Roskosz

    Spectroscopy in mineralogy: theory and experiment
    Special session at 2006 AGU Spring Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-convener: Bjorn Mysen

    Perovskite to Post-Perovskite Phase Transition in the Earth's Deep Interior
    Special session at 2005 AGU Fall Meeting
    Chairman and convener. Co-conveners: W.L. Mao, S. Ono, P. Tackley, M.E. Wysession

    3. Reviewing activities

  • Applied Physics Letters
  • Chemical Physics Letters
  • Earth and Planetary Science Letters
  • Geophysical Research Letters
  • Journal of Applied Physics
  • Journal of Chemical Physics
  • Journal of Geophysical Research
  • Physical Review B
  • Physical Review Letters
  • Physics and Chemistry of Minerals
  • Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Science


    • Awards

  • Humboldt Fellowship, 2007, assigned to Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
    •                - awarded to perform computational studies of iron-bearing minerals at high pressure using advanced first-principles methodology
  • Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2004, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC, USA
    •                - awarded to perform theoretical research on Earth and planetary materials under extreme conditions
  • 1st award Robert Weimar in Sedimentology, 1995, Bucharest University, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, Department of Mineralogy, Bucharest, Romania.
    •                - undergraduate award for excellence in sedimentology and sedimentary petrology

    Professional affiliation

  • European Crystallographic Association
  • American Physical Society
  • American Geophysical Union
  • American Mineralogical Society

    • Teaching activities

    Courses

  • A module on "First-principles calculations in mineralogy" for the Master M1 class "Physique de la Terre et des planetes", 2008-2009, ENS Lyon.

    Laboratories for the following courses (undergraduate)

  • Introduction to Earth Sciences (1st year, students in the Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Agronomical Sciences) during 1998-2002;
  • Mineralogy (2nd year, Geology students) during 1997-2001;
  • Optics (2nd year, Geology students) during 2000-2001;
  • Geological cartography (2nd year, Geology and Geography students) during 2000-2003;
  • Thermodynamic geochemistry (3rd year, Geology students) during 1998-2001;
  • Ore mineralogy (4th year, Geology students) during 1998-2001;

    Fieldtrips

  • 1998 - fieldtrip in the Massif des Maures (metamorphism) and Massif de l'Esterel (volcanism) - 2nd year undergraduate students
  • 2000-2002 - different short fieldtrips in the Paleozoic sedimentary regions of Southern Belgium

    • Supervising activity for graduation thesis of undergraduate students

    Olivier Hercot : "Mineralogical study of the sulphates deposits from the volcanic arc of the Carpathian Mts, Harghita County, Romania"
    June 2002 (in collaboration with Prof. Jean Naud, Geology Dept., Université Catholique de Louvain)

    Colinne Lannoye : "Crystallochemical study of the A2BX4 series"
    January 2003 (in collaboration with Prof. Jean Naud, Geology Dept., Université Catholique de Louvain)

    Supervising activity of undergraduate students

    Edward John Banigan, Georgetown University: Undergraduate summer intern student through the Carnegie Internship Program, 2005. Project: "Search for stable post-spinel phases of MgAl2O4". Part of the results have been published.

    Edward John Banigan, Georgetown University: Undergraduate summer intern student through the Bayerisches GeoInstitut Internship Program, 2007.

    Supervising activity of PhD students

    Lucile Bezacier, "Serpentines in the subduction zones", Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre, Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, current.

    Multimedia tools

    A 60 minutes videotape with computed crystal structures animations, realized using home-made software
    (e.g. ATM2SXF) and 3DStudio, presented in 1997, Bucharest.

    Languages

  • Romanian - native
  • English, French - fluent
  • German, Italian - intermediate

    Other interests

  • Photography
  • History
  • Outdoors