In the context of global decarbonization, energy materials take center stage in sustainable energy applications. Thanks to the development of theory and computation power, computational materials science is playing a more and more important role in the investigation and design of energy materials. This course equips students with the fundamental theory and practical skills in materials modeling based on the quantum-mechanical first-principles calculations. The following contents will be covered: the Schrödinger equation; density functional theory; Hartree-Fock method; calculations of solids, surfaces, vibrations, thermodynamic phase diagrams, electronic structure, transition states, and ab initio molecular dynamics.

Machine learning (ML) has become one of the most useful and important tools in scientific research. This course provides the fundamentals and useful insight into where ML could have the greatest impact for the students dedicated to energy materials research. The lectures provide example methods for ML applied to experiments and simulations, covering the early stages of building an ML solution for a materials science problem, the issue of how to build more robust models, the use of ML to accelerate or augment simulations, how ML is applied to analyze and process experimental data, and how ML can be used in the discovery of new energy materials on computers.

General Physics I is designed for students who are interested in science and technology. The course is delivered based on an algebra-based approach, and it incorporates conceptual understandings and mathematical problem-solving skills. Key topics covered by General Physics I are divided into three modules. The first module covers the fundamentals of mechanics, including motion in one and two dimensions, Newton's Laws, and rotational kinematics and dynamics, etc. The second module covers energy and oscillations, including work, energy conservation, momentum conservation, oscillations, fluids, and waves, etc. The third module covers thermodynamics, including the laws of thermodynamics and ideal gases, etc.