Dr. Melissa Sims is joining as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham beginning August 2024. Dr. Sims will also be affiliated with DOE NNSA funded Center of Excellence CAMCSE at UAB (https://sites.uab.edu/camcse/). Previously, she was an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University with a visiting scientist appointment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Hailing from South Carolina, Dr. Sims earned bachelor’s degrees from the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina and completed her master’s and doctorate at Stony Brook University.
Dr. Sims’s research focuses on planetary interiors, meteorite impacts, and the behavior of materials undergoing extreme conditions. Her work is dedicated to unraveling the mysteries surrounding solar system formation and planetary evolution and investigates the unique mechanical, thermal, and chemical responses of materials subjected to shock conditions. During her doctorate, Dr. Sims honed her expertise in quasi-static high-pressure techniques, employing in-operando studies to examine the effects of orientation, texture, strain-rate, and pressure on the nucleation and growth of mineral phases commonly found in meteorites. She has broadened her research to include dynamic experiments using laser and gas-gun platforms, leveraging recent technological advancements and newly available national and international facilities.
Outside of her academic pursuits, Dr. Sims finds joy in playing the violin, riding her horse, and breeding exotic fish.
