Ryan Duncan Email & Phone Number

California, United States

Mountain View, California, United States

Palo Alto, California, United States

-Investigated the nonequilibrium structural dynamics of quantum materials using ultrafast optics and time-resolved x-ray diffraction/scattering techniques at hard-x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) beamline facilities.-Led multi-disciplinary teams across 3 international XFEL laboratories in facility-scale applied physics experiments.-Developed pipelines and analysis frameworks using Python and MATLAB to analyze ~50 TB of beamline data on Linux-based high-performance computing clusters.-Developed unsupervised learning algorithms to automate signal detection for time-resolved x-ray scattering experiments, improving early-stage analytical throughput.-Resolved the structurally composite order in the charge-density-wave state of the putative axionic insulator material (TaSe4)2I using ultrafast x-ray pump-probe experiments.-Published 2 papers in top peer-reviewed journals (Phys. Rev. Lett., Nat. Mater.), with 2 more manuscripts in review. Received 2 postdoctoral fellowships from Stanford. Delivered 1 invited talk at the 17th International Conference on Phonon Scattering in Condensed Matter (2023 -- Paris, France)

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thesis: Mechanical Properties of Complex Solids and Exotic Thermal Transport Dynamics Investigated with Optical and Extreme-Ultraviolet Transient Grating TechniquesAdvisor: Prof. Keith A. Nelson-Used in-house laser-based methods and large-scale accelerator-based light sources to study exotic mechanical and thermal transport phenomena in the solid state.-Discovered hydrodynamic “second sound” – i.e., wavelike heat transport – in graphite at temperatures up to 120 K, the highest recorded temperature of this phenomenon in any system up to that date. This work was published and featured in Science, and prominently publicized in Scientific American.-Used time-resolved laser ultrasonic methods to study the mechanical properties of complex solids, such as microgranular metamaterials and radiation-damaged refractory metal alloys (select publication in Appl. Phys. Lett.).-Extended four-wave-mixing nonlinear spectroscopic techniques to the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) energy regime at the FERMI free-electron laser facility. Studied EUV-induced coherent acoustic responses in various materials and observed fully ballistic room-temperature thermal transport in diamond using this light source.-Published 16 papers in peer-reviewed journals with 800+ citations; 2 more manuscripts in review.-Award-winning undergraduate instructor. Managed an outreach teaching laboratory, and developed laboratory modules that were integrated with the MIT undergraduate chemistry curriculum.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Physical Chemistry

Master'S Degree, Materials Science

Bachelor'S Degree, Chemistry & Physics