Tine Curk is an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and also holds courtesy appointment in the Department of Physics and is a member of Data Science and AI (DSAI) institute. His research focuses on the theory and computational modeling of soft materials. He applies molecular simulations, coarse-grained techniques, and statistical mechanics to understand intriguing and often counter-intuitive phenomena emerging from many interacting components. Practical applications include designing functional soft materials and biomaterials and exploring charge–structure relationships at the nanoscale. He develops new algorithms and simulation methods and is a contributor to the open-source molecular dynamics code LAMMPS.

Curk earned a BS and MS in physics from the University of Maribor (2012) and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cambridge (2016). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Northwestern University. Tine’s work contributed to the design of functionalized polymers and nanoparticles for super-selective targeting and understanding charge regulation in soft materials. His academic awards include the Herchel Smith scholarship, the CAS President’s postdoctoral fellowship, and the Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship.