Gavin A. Buxton
Assistant Professor of Physics (Science)
buxton@rmu.edu 412-397-4033 phone (M) John Jay 211
My Website

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Computational Physics, Sheffield Hallam University, 2001
• Master of Science, Engineering Physics, Sheffield Hallam University, 1998

Professional Background

• 2001 - 2004. Post Doctoral Research Associate, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Pittsburgh.
• 2004 - 2007. Post Doctoral Research Associate, Chemistry Department, Durham University (UK).
• 2007 - 2009. Visiting Assistant Professor, Physics Department, Case Western Reserve University.

Area of Expertise/Research

• My research involves using computers to solve complex physical problems. I write computer programs which mimic real experimental and natural systems. These computer simulations not only allow us to see what might happen if we make changes to a system, but also reveals insights that might otherwise be experimentally unobservable. For example, my simulations of polymer nanoparticles allow us to view drug diffusion from within a structure ten thousand times smaller than the thickness of a human hair - something which would be experimentally impractical.

Publications

• Stephen J. Ebbens ,  Gavin A. Buxton ,  Alexander Alexeev ,  Alireza Sadeghi and Jonathan R. Howse, Synthetic running and tumbling: an autonomous navigation strategy for catalytic nanoswimmers, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 3077-3082
• Amitabh Bhattacharya, Gavin A. Buxton, O. Berk Usta, and Anna C. Balazs, Propulsion and Trapping of Microparticles by Active Cilia Arrays, Langmuir, 2012, 28 (6), pp 3217–3226
• Li-Tang Yan, Egor Maresov, Gavin A Buxton, and Anna C. Balazs. Self-Assembly of Mixtures of Nanorods in Binary, Phase-Separating Blends. Soft Matter. (2011) 7, 595-607
• Gavin A. Buxton and Anna C. Balazs, Modeling Mixtures of Nanorods and Polymers: Determining Structure-Property Relationship for Polymeric Nanocomposites. Comprehensive Polymer Science (in press).
• Gavin A. Buxton, Nanotechnology and Polymer Solar Cells. Handbook of Research on Solar Energy Systems and Technologies (in press).
• N. Clarke, E. de Luca, T. McLeish, L. Hutchings, Gavin A. Buxton, T. Gough, I. Grillo, R. Graham, K. Jagannathan, and Harley Klein. Chain Deformation in Entangled Polymer Melts at Re-entrant Corners. Macromolecules (2010) 43 (3), 1539–1542.
• Dhawal D. Ankola, Ernest W. Durbin, Gavin A. Buxton, Jens Schäfer, Udo Bakowsky, Roger M. Wadsworth and M. N. V. Ravi Kumar. Preparation, characterization and in silico modeling of biodegradable nanoparticles containing Cyclosporine A and Coenzyme Q10. Nanotechnology. (2010) 21 065104.
•  Gavin A. Buxton, Sandra L. Siedlak, George Perry and Mark A. Smith. Mathematical modeling of microtubule dynamics: Insights into physiology and disease. Progress in Neurobiology 92 (2010) 478–483 .
• Rajat Ghosh, Gavin A. Buxton, O. Berk Usta, Anna C. Balazs, and Alexander Alexeev. Designing oscillating cilia that capture or release microscopic particles. Langmuir (2010) 26 (4), 2963–2968.
• Ernest Durbin and Gavin A. Buxton. A coarse-grained model of targeted drug delivery from responsive polymer nanoparticles. Soft Matter (2010) 6, 762-767.
• Gavin A. Buxton, N. Clarke and P. J. Hussey. Actin Dynamics and the Elasticity of Cytoskeletal Networks. eXPRESS Polymer Letters Vol.3, No.9 (2009) 579-587.
• Gavin A. Buxton, Ultrathin, dynamic and groovy: the physics of Dutcher films. Annu. Rep. Prog. Chem., Sect. C: Phys. Chem. (2009)
• Gavin A. Buxton, The Fate of a Polymer Nanoparticle Subject to Flow-Induced Shear Stresses. Europhys. Lett. 84 26006 (2008).
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, The Physics of Solid-Fluid-Solid Films: From Surface Instabilities to Isolated Pockets of Fluid. Advances in Chemical Physics. Wiley (2009).
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Bending to Stretching Transition in Disordered Networks. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 238103 (2007)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Ordering polymer blend morphologies via solvent evaporation. Europhys. Lett. 78 56006 (2007)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Drug diffusion from polymer core-shell nanoparticles. Soft Matter 3, 1513 - 1517 (2007)
• R.D. Deshmukh, Gavin A. Buxton, N. Clarke and R.J. Composto, Nanoscale Block Copolymer Templates Decorated by Nanoparticle Arrays. Macromolecules 40 (17), 6316 -6324 (2007)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Computer Simulation of Polymer Solar Cells. Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 15 13-26 (2007)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Computational Phlebology: The Simulation of a Vein Valve. J. Biol. Phys. 32 507-521 (2006)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Multiscale Modeling of Miscible Polymer Blends in Porous Media: From Flow Fields to Concentration Fluctuations. Phys. Rev. E. 74 041807 (2006)
• N. Clarke, E. De Luca, J. Bent, Gavin A. Buxton, T. Gough, I. Grillo and L.R. Hutchings. Concentration Fluctuations in Polymer Blends Subjected to Contraction Flow. Macromolecules 39 7607-7616(2006)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Structural Evolution and Control of Dutcher Films. Soft Matter 2 678-685 (2006)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Stress-Guided Self-Assembly in Dutcher Films. Phys. Rev. E 73 041801(2006)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Predicting Structure and Property Relations in Polymeric Photovoltaic Devices. Phys. Rev. B 74 085207(2006)
• Gavin A. Buxton and N. Clarke, Novel Hierarchic Structures in Polymer Blends. Macro. Symp. 233 102(2006)
• A.C. Balazs and Gavin A. Buxton, Modeling the Structural Evolution, Equilibrium Morphology and Macroscopic Behavior of Polymer/Nanoparticle Composites. Handbook of Theoretical and Computational Nanotechnology, American Scientific Publishers (2006).
• Gavin A. Buxton, N. Clarke, Simulating the Dynamics of Polydisperse Polymer Blends: Upshot of Polydispersity and Reaction Kinetics. Macromolecules, 38(21) 8929-8938 (2005)
• Gavin A. Buxton, N. Clarke, Creating Structures in Polymer Blends via a Dissolution and Phase-Separation Process. Phys. Rev. E, 72(1) 011807 (2005).
• Gavin A. Buxton, R. Verberg, D. Jasnow and A.C. Balazs, Newtonian Fluid Meets an Elastic Solid: Coupling Lattice Boltzmann and Lattice-Spring Models. Phys. Rev. E, 71(5) 056707 (2005).
• R.D.M. Travasso, Gavin A. Buxton, O. Kuksenok, K. Good and A.C. Balazs, Modeling the Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Sheared Ternary Mixtures. J. Chem. Phys., 122(19) 194906(2005).
• Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Micromechanical Simulation of the Deformation and Fracture of Polymer Blends. Macromolecules, 38(2) 488-500 (2005).
• B.A. Slavin, S.P. Levitan and Gavin A. Buxton. Mechanical Modeling of Failure in Surface Coatings. Proc. SPIE, 5757, 515(2005).
• S. Tyagi, Gavin A. Buxton, J-Y Lee and A.C. Balazs, Using Nanocomposite Coatings to Heal Surface Defects. Macromolecules,37(24) 9160-9168 (2004).
• J-Y. Lee, Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Using Nanoparticles to Create Self-Healing Composites. J. Chem. Phys., 121(11) 5531-5540 (2004).
• K.Good, O.Kuksenok, Gavin A. Buxton and A.C.Balazs, Effect of Hydrodynamic Interactions on the Evolution of Chemically Reactive Ternary Mixtures. J. Chem. Phys., 121(12) 6052-6063 (2004).
• A.C. Balazs and Gavin A. Buxton, Supramolecular Networks Synthesized in Nanoparticles-Polymer Mixtures. Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Marcel Dekker, 5 3785 (2004).
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• Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Predicting the Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Nanocomposites Formed from Polymer Blends and Nanorods. Molecular Simulations, 30 249-257 ((2004).
• Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Modeling the Dynamic Fracture of Polymer Blends Processed Under Shear. Phys. Rev. B, 69(5) 054101 (2004).
• Gavin A. Buxton, J-Y Lee and A.C. Balazs, Computer Simulation of Morphologies and Optical Properties of Filled Diblock Copolymers. Macromolecules, 36 9631-9637 (2003).
• Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Simulating the Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Filled Diblock Copolymers. Phys. Rev. E, 67(3) 031802 (2003).
• Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Predicting the Mechanical Properties of Binary Blends of Immiscible Polymers. Interface Sci., 11(2) 175-186 (2003). 
• Z-Y.Shou, Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Predicting the Self-Assembled Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Mixtures of Diblocks and Rod-Like Nanoparticles. Composite Interfaces, 1 10(4-5) 343-368 (2003).
• Gavin A. Buxton and A.C. Balazs, Lattice Spring Model of Filled Polymers and Nanocomposites. J.
  Chem. Phys., 117(16) 7649-7658 (2002).
• Gavin A. Buxton, C.M.Care and D.J.Cleaver, A Lattice Spring Model of Heterogeneous Materials with Plasticity. Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng., 9(6) 485-497 (2001).

Schedule of Courses
Schedule Book for All Active and Available Future Terms, Buxton, Gavin A