Professor Pelcovits joined the Brown Physics Department in 1979. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he received his Ph. D. from Harvard University in 1978. He has done postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois and Brookhaven National Laboratory. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and a recipient of the Bergmann Memorial Award from the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation. He has been a visiting professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University and Brandeis University. He was named a Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence at Brown in 2008 for a three-year term.
| Ding, Lijie, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Chiral fluid membranes with orientational order and multiple edges." Soft Matter, vol. 19, no. 43, 2023, pp. 8453-8464. |
| Khanra, Ayantika, Jia, Leroy L., Mitchell, Noah P., Balchunas, Andrew, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R., Dogic, Zvonimir, Sharma, Prerna. "Controlling the shape and topology of two-component colloidal membranes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119, no. 32, 2022. |
| Jia, Leroy L., Pei, Steven, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Axisymmetric membranes with edges under external force: buckling, minimal surfaces, and tethers." Soft Matter, vol. 17, no. 31, 2021, pp. 7268-7286. |
| Ding, Lijie, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Deformation and orientational order of chiral membranes with free edges." Soft Matter, vol. 17, no. 27, 2021, pp. 6580-6588. |
| Balchunas, Andrew, Jia, Leroy L., Zakhary, Mark J., Robaszewski, Joanna, Gibaud, Thomas, Dogic, Zvonimir, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Force-Induced Formation of Twisted Chiral Ribbons." Physical Review Letters, vol. 125, no. 1, 2020. |
| Ding, Lijie, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Shapes of fluid membranes with chiral edges." Physical Review E, vol. 102, no. 3, 2020. |
| Duclos G, Adkins R, Banerjee D, Peterson MSE, Varghese M, Kolvin I, Baskaran A, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR, Baskaran A, Toschi F, Hagan MF, Streichan SJ, Vitelli V, Beller DA, Dogic Z. "Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics." Science, vol. 367, no. 6482, 2020, pp. 1120-1124. |
| Soni H, Luo W, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR. "Stability of the interface of an isotropic active fluid." Soft Matter, vol. 15, no. 31, 2019, pp. 6318-6330. |
| Soni H, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR. "Enhancement of Microorganism Swimming Speed in Active Matter." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 121, no. 17, 2018, pp. 178002. |
| Jia LL, Zakhary MJ, Dogic Z, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR. "Chiral edge fluctuations of colloidal membranes." Physical Review E, vol. 95, no. 6-1, 2017, pp. 060701. |
| Xie, Sheng, Hagan, Michael F., Pelcovits, Robert A. "Interaction of chiral rafts in self-assembled colloidal membranes." Physical Review E, vol. 93, no. 3, 2016. |
| Xie, Sheng, Pelcovits, Robert A., Hagan, Michael F. "Probing a self-assembledfdvirus membrane with a microtubule." Physical Review E, vol. 93, no. 6, 2016. |
| Soni, Harsh, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Wrinkling of a thin film on a nematic liquid-crystal elastomer." Physical Review E, vol. 94, no. 1, 2016, pp. 012701. |
| Murray, Bryce S., Pelcovits, Robert A., Rosenblatt, Charles. "Creating arbitrary arrays of two-dimensional topological defects." Physical Review E, vol. 90, no. 5, 2014. |
| Tu, Hao, Pelcovits, Robert A. "Instability of flat disks with respect to the formation of twisted ribbons in smectic- A * monolayers." Physical Review E, vol. 87, no. 4, 2013. |
| Tu, Hao, Pelcovits, Robert A. "Theory of self-assembled smectic- A crenellated disks: Membranes with cusped edges." Physical Review E, vol. 87, no. 3, 2013. |
| Kaplan, C. Nadir, Tu, Hao, Pelcovits, Robert A., Meyer, Robert B. "Theory of depletion-induced phase transition from chiral smectic- A twisted ribbons to semi-infinite flat membranes." Physical Review E, vol. 82, no. 2, 2010. |
| Barry, Edward, Dogic, Zvonimir, Meyer, Robert B., Pelcovits, Robert A., Oldenbourg, Rudolf. "Direct Measurement of the Twist Penetration Length in a Single Smectic A Layer of Colloidal Virus Particles †." The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, vol. 113, no. 12, 2009, pp. 3910-3913. |
| Schwarz, Michael H., Pelcovits, Robert A. "Nematic cells with quasicrystalline-patterned alignment layers." Physical Review E, vol. 79, no. 2, 2009. |
| Pelcovits, Robert A., Meyer, Robert B. "Twist penetration in single-layer smectic A discs of colloidal virus particles." Liquid Crystals, vol. 36, no. 10-11, 2009, pp. 1157-1160. |
| Backer, Adam S., Callan-Jones, A. C., Pelcovits, Robert A. "Nematic cells with defect-patterned alignment layers." Physical Review E, vol. 77, no. 2, 2008. |
| Pelcovits, Robert A., Meyer, Robert B., Lee, Jong-Bong. "Dynamics of the molecular orientation field coupled to ions in two-dimensional ferroelectric liquid crystals." Physical Review E, vol. 76, no. 2, 2007. |
| Lee, Jong-Bong, Pelcovits, Robert A., Meyer, Robert B. "Role of electrostatics in the texture of islands in free-standing ferroelectric liquid crystal films." Physical Review E, vol. 75, no. 5, 2007. |
| Callan-Jones, A. C., Pelcovits, Robert A., Meyer, Robert B., Bower, A. F. "Unwinding of a strained cholesteric elastomer by disclination loop nucleation." Physical Review E, vol. 75, no. 1, 2007. |
| Jiang, Hongyuan, Huber, Greg, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Vesicle shape, molecular tilt, and the suppression of necks." Physical Review E, vol. 76, no. 3, 2007. |
| Callan-Jones, A. C., Pelcovits, Robert A., Slavin, V. A., Zhang, S., Laidlaw, D. H., Loriot, G. B. "Simulation and visualization of topological defects in nematic liquid crystals." Physical Review E, vol. 74, no. 6, 2006. |
| Gorkhali, Suraj P., Cloutier, Sylvain G., Crawford, Gregory P., Pelcovits, Robert A. "Stable polarization gratings recorded in azo-dye-doped liquid crystals." Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 88, no. 25, 2006, pp. 251113. |
| Slavin, Vadim, Pelcovits, Robert, Loriot, George, Callan-Jones, Andrew, Laidlaw, David. "Techniques for the Visualization of Topological Defect Behavior in Nematic Liquid Crystals." IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 12, no. 5, 2006, pp. 1323-1328. |
| Slavin VA, Pelcovits RA, Loriot G, Callan-Jones A, Laidlaw DH. "Techniques for the visualization of topological defect behavior in nematic liquid crystals." IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 12, no. 5, 2006, pp. 1323-8. |
| Crawford, Gregory P., Eakin, James N., Radcliffe, Marc D., Callan-Jones, Andrew, Pelcovits, Robert A. "Liquid-crystal diffraction gratings using polarization holography alignment techniques." J. Appl. Phys., vol. 98, no. 12, 2005, pp. 123102. |
| Eakin, James N., Pelcovits, Robert A., Crawford, Gregory P., Radcliffe, Marc D. "Polarization Holographic Patterned Alignment of Nematic Liquid Crystals." Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, vol. 438, no. 1, 2005, pp. 185/[1749]-193/[1757]. |
| Feldman, D. E., Pelcovits, Robert A. "Liquid crystals in random porous media: Disorder is stronger in low-density aerosils." Physical Review E, vol. 70, no. 4, 2004. |
| Eakin, James N., Xie, Yunhe, Pelcovits, Robert A., Crawford, Gregory P., Radcliffe, Marc D. "LP-9: Late News Poster: Patterned Alignment Layers Using Holographic Exposure Technique." SID Symposium Digest, vol. 35, no. 1, 2004, pp. 578. |
| Mattis, Daniel C., Pelcovits, Robert. "Statistical Mechanics Made Simple: A Guide for Students and Researchers." Am. J. Phys., vol. 72, no. 6, 2004, pp. 846. |
| Slavin, V.A., Laidlaw, D.H., Pelcovits, R., Song Zhang, None, Loriot, G., Callan-Jones, A. "Visualization of Topological Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals Using Streamtubes, Streamsurfaces and Ellipsoids." IEEE Visualization 2004, 2004. |
| Eakin, James N., Xie, Yunhe, Pelcovits, Robert A., Radcliffe, Marc D., Crawford, Gregory P. "Zero voltage Freedericksz transition in periodically aligned liquid crystals." Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 85, no. 10, 2004, pp. 1671. |
| Priezjev NV, Skacej G, Pelcovits RA, Zumer S. "External and intrinsic anchoring in nematic liquid crystals: a Monte Carlo study." Physical Review E, vol. 68, no. 4 Pt 1, 2003, pp. 041709. |
| Priezjev NV, Pelcovits RA. "Coarsening dynamics of biaxial nematic liquid crystals." Physical Review E, vol. 66, no. 5 Pt 1, 2002, pp. 051705. |
| Meyer RB, Pelcovits RA. "Electroclinic effect and modulated phases in smectic liquid crystals." Physical Review E, vol. 65, no. 6 Pt 1, 2002, pp. 061704. |
| Pelcovits RA, Meyer RB. "Isotropic-cholesteric transition in liquid-crystalline gels." Physical Review E, vol. 66, no. 3 Pt 1, 2002, pp. 031706. |
| Priezjev NV, Pelcovits RA. "Cluster Monte Carlo simulations of the nematic-isotropic transition." Physical Review E, vol. 63, no. 6 Pt 1, 2001, pp. 062702. |
| Priezjev NV, Pelcovits RA. "Disclination loop behavior near the nematic-isotropic transition." Physical Review E, vol. 64, no. 3 Pt 1, 2001, pp. 031710. |
| Billeter, Jeffrey L., Pelcovits, Robert A. "Molecular shape and flexoelectricity." Liquid Crystals, vol. 27, no. 9, 2000, pp. 1151-1160. |
| Billeter JL, Smondyrev AM, Loriot GB, Pelcovits RA. "Phase-ordering dynamics of the Gay-Berne nematic liquid crystal." Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics, vol. 60, no. 6 Pt A, 1999, pp. 6831-40. |
| SMONDYREV, A. M., PELCOVITS, ROBERT A. "Glass formation in the Gay-Berne nematic liquid crystal." Liquid Crystals, vol. 23, no. 2, 1997, pp. 205-212. |
| Pelcovits, Robert A. "Cholesteric pitch of rigid and semi-flexible chiral liquid crystals." Liquid Crystals, vol. 21, no. 3, 1996, pp. 361-364. |
Recent Publications:
“Flow states of two dimensional active gels driven by external shear,” (W. Luo, A. Baskaran, R. A. Pelcovits and T. R. Powers), Soft Matter 20, 738 (2024).
“Chiral fluid membranes with orientational order and multiple edges,” (L. Ding, R. A. Pelcovits and T. R. Powers), Soft Matter 19, 8453 (2023).
“Controlling the shape and topology of two-component colloidal membranes,” (A. Khanra, L. L. Jia, N. P. Mitchell, A. Balchunas, R. A. Pelcovits, T. R. Powers, Z. Dogic and P. Sharma), PNAS 119, e2204453119 (2022).
“Axisymmetric membranes with edges under external force: buckling, minimal surfaces, and tethers,” (L. L. Jia, S. Pei, R. A. Pelcovits and T. R. Powers), Soft Matter 17, 7268 (2021).
“Deformation and orientational order of chiral membranes with free edges,” (L. Ding, R. A. Pelcovits and T. R. Powers), Soft Matter 17, 6580 (2021).
“Force induced formation of twisted chiral ribbons,” (with A. Balchunas, L. L. Jia, M. Zakhary, J. Robaszewski, T. Gibaud, Z. Dogic and T. R. Powers), Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 018002 (2020)
“Topological structure and dynamics of three dimensional active nematics,” (with G. Duclos, R. Adkins, D. Banerjee, M. Peterson, M. Varghese, I. Kolvin, A. Baskaran, T. R. Powers, A. Baskaran, F. Toschi, M. F. Hagan, S. Streichan, V. Vitelli, D. Beller and Z. Dogic), Science 367, 1120 (2020) (featured on journal cover).
“Shapes of fluid membranes with chiral edges,” (with L. Ding and T. R. Powers), Phys . Rev. E 102, 032608 (2020).
“Stability of the interface of an isotropic active fluid,” (with H. Soni, W. Luo and T. R. Powers), Soft Matter 15, 6318 (2019) (invited article).
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | PhD | Harvard University |
| 1974 | MS | University of Pennsylvania |
| 1974 | BA | University of Pennsylvania |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Breuer, Kenny | Professor of Engineering |
| Powers, Thomas | Professor of Engineering, Professor of Physics |
| Tang, Jay | Professor of Physics, Professor of Engineering |
| PHYS 0030 - Basic Physics A |
| PHYS 0060 - Foundations of Electromagnetism and Modern Physics |
| PHYS 0470 - Electricity and Magnetism |
| PHYS 1410 - Quantum Mechanics A |
| PHYS 1420 - Quantum Mechanics B |
| PHYS 1510 - Advanced Electromagnetic Theory |
| PHYS 2060 - Quantum Mechanics |
| PHYS 2140 - Statistical Mechanics |
| PHYS 2410 - Solid State Physics I |
