Summary of Research
Alison Rhoads is an incoming Chemistry PhD student at the University of Chicago. She plans to specialize in modeling the microscopic interactions between atoms and electrons that underpin complex macroscopic material properties.
In the past, Alison's research has spanned condensed matter physics, theoretical chemistry, materials science and biology. At the UC San Diego School of Medicine, she designed methods to identify cooperative bacteriophage-antibiotic pairs that treat antibiotic-resistant infections. During her undergraduate studies at UC San Diego, Alison developed machine-learned many body energy potential energy functions for large molecular systems at the Paesani Group. Alison has also spent time at two national laboratories: She utilized density functional theory to probe the magnetic ground state of two-dimensional heavy fermion systems as an intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and as a SULI intern at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory she developed a first-principles framework to predict the thermal expansion of materials from their lattice dynamics and facilitate novel materials design.
Publications
Khong E,..., Rhoads A,..., Pride DT. (2024). A simple solid media assay for detection of synergy between bacteriophages and antibiotics. Microbiology Spectrum, 12, e03221-23. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.03221-23
Rhoads A, Zhou R, Paesani F. Data-Driven Many-Body Framework for Ice Nucleation at Organic-Water Interface. (In preparation)
Data-Driven Many-Body Framework for Ice Nucleation at Organic-Water Interface
• American Physical Society Global Summit, March 2026
Impurity Effects on Magnetic Properties of CeSiI
- Los Alamos National Laboratory Theoretical Division Student Lighting Talks, Los Alamos, July 2024
Data-Driven Many-Body Framework for Organic and Biological Molecules
- Southern California Theoretical Chemistry Poster Symposium, Los Angeles, October 2023
Magnetic Properties of CeSiI
- Southern California Theoretical Chemistry Poster Symposium, San Diego, October 2024
- APS Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics, San Diego, January 2025
Data-Driven Many-Body Framework for Organic Molecules
- American Chemical Society Spring Meeting, San Diego, March 2025
- American Chemical Society Student Association Research Symposium, San Diego, May 2025
First-Principles Study of Negative Thermal Expansion via Lattice Dynamics
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab WD&E Intern Poster Session, Berkeley, August 2025
Awards
Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI): Summer of 2025
Provost Honors: Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026