Dr Gerald Pereira

Research Interests

Soft Condensed Matter Physics
My research is in the area of soft condensed matter physics and complex fluids. This is a comparatively new field of research dealing with the understanding, at a molecular level, of materials made up of polymers, liquid crystals, gels etc. Some recent problems I have been interested in are (i) Properties of block copolymers which naturally self-assemble into a variety of patterns with a nanoscale periodicity. These patterns may be used in nano-lithographic templating for device miniaturization. (ii) Behaviour of liquid crystal elastomers for potential use as actuators and artificial muscles. (iii) Fluid flow in porous media, which has applications in oil recovery, ground-water flow etc. Recent Honours and Graduate students have worked on simulation techniques to model these systems.

Current Teaching

	PHYS 132:	Introductory Astronomy
	PHYS 214:	Physics 2A: Relativity, Quantum and Particle Physics
	PHYS 309:	Solid State and Nuclear Physics (Course Coordinator)
	PHYS 412:	Theoretical Physics (Course Coordinator)
	PHYS 415:	Electromagnetism