Structure and Dynamics Group

SanD Call for Apprenticeship 2026

nlamsen — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 05:36:37 +0000

The Structure and Dynamics (SanD) research group is currently accepting applications for apprenticeship.

Qualifications:
Undergraduate students should have passed Physics 116 & 126.
Graduate students should have passed at least one graduate core course.

Link to 2026 Application Form.

(Please use UP mail to access the application form.)

ICTP Asian Network School and Workshop on Complex Condensed Matter Systems 2025

nlamsen — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:19:50 +0000

The ICTP Asian Network School and Workshop on Complex Condensed Systems 2025 took place from 10 to 14 November 2025 at the National Institute of Physics in UP Diliman. It consists of a four-day school that provides pedagogical lectures in condensed matter physics, complex systems, and statistical physics, as well as a one-day workshop that showcases current trends and research results delivered in seminar-type talks. Lecturers and participants from network node members and their affiliates came from Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, Slovenia, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and from several universities and state colleges across the Philippines.

The current Network Coordinator is SanD member Cristine Villagonzalo, who organized the event along with Paul Pearce (University of Melbourne), Sergej Flach (PCS-IBS), and Ki-seok Kim (POSTECH/APCTP). The local organizing Committee included Roland Cristopher Caballar (UST), Gennevieve Macam (NIP), Noel Lamsen (NIP), Wilson Garcia (NIP), Francis Paraan (NIP), and Vladimir Villegas (Mapúa).

SanD @ SPP 2025

nlamsen — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:38:55 +0000

SanD researchers presented 11 papers at the 43th Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Conference at UP Diliman, Quezon City last 25 to 28 June 2025. Additionally, SPP celebrates the United Nations' observance of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and chooses Entangled! as its theme with an addition of a new session topic Quantum Science and Technology for SPP2025. This international conference was one of the largest organized by SPP with 353 participants coming from eight countries. It was highlighted by 25 invited talks by speakers from top research institutions from around the world and a keynote presentation by Professor Hung-Duen Yang of the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) on Exotic H-field induced multiferroic behaviors in spin-frustrated systems.

SanD Call for Apprentices 2025

sandadmin — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:58:09 +0000

Link to 2025 Application Form.

ICTP Asian Network School and Workshop on Complex Condensed Matter Systems 2024

sandadmin — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 03:50:23 +0000

The ICTP Asian Network School and Workshop on Complex Condensed Systems 2024 was held in Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand from 11 to 15 November 2024. The Philippine node of the Asian Network, headed by SanD physicist Cristine Villagonzalo, participated in the event and was composed of scientists and students coming from the University of the Philippines Diliman, University of Santo Tomas, Mapúa University, and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology.

Noel Lamsen delivered a lecture on the introduction to scale invariant scattering and its application to 2D systems at criticality, while Gennevieve Macam discussed first principles studies on the topological phases of 2D materials. SanD congratulates MS students Gene Herman and Xavier Braña for individually winning a Poster Presentation Award. Gene presented his research on thermodynamic performance optimization of a Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick heat engine model with anisotropy, and Xavier presented his study on the first principles investigation of multiferroic properties of nickel telluride oxides.

SanD student awarded Best Poster @ SPP2024

sandadmin — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 05:09:41 +0000

SanD congratulates Ana Clarissa Torio for presenting the best Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science poster at the 42nd Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Conference at the Batangas State University last 3-6 July 2024. Along with SanD physicist Gennevieve Macam, they presented their theoretical study of the electro-optical properties of halide-doped perovskites that may find applications in renewable harvesting technologies.

SanD researchers presented a total of 13 articles and two abstracts at SPP2024, which was attended by participants from 12 countries. It was highlighted by 36 invited talks by speakers from top research institutions from around the world and a keynote presentation by Daniel Holz of the University of Chicago on what the study of gravitational waves reveals about stellar formation and galactic composition.

Noel Lamsen joins SanD

sandadmin — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 02:13:27 +0000

SanD welcomes its newest faculty member Noel Lamsen. He joins us as an Associate Professor of the National Institute of Physics. He obtained his PhD in Statistical Physics at SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) in Trieste, where he also obtained a research fellowship from November 2020 to February 2021. Dr. Lamsen's current work focuses on the theory of critical phenomena in low-dimensional systems by employing novel methods to obtain exact results. He is also interested in topics related but not limited to disordered systems, percolation and polymers, geometric phase transitions, path integral and second quantization methods for classical stochastic reaction-diffusion processes, density matrix renormalization group, matrix product states and tensor networks, and Monte Carlo simulations.

NIP graduate students who are interested to work with Dr. Lamsen on these topics may contact him by email.

ICTP Asian Network School and Workshop on Complex Condensed Matter Systems 2023

sandadmin — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 05:34:36 +0000

The Asian Network School and Workshop on Complex Condensed Matter Systems 2023 was held on 6-10 November 2023 at the Institute of Physics, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in Hanoi, Vietnam. This year, the Philippine node of the ICTP Asian Network was headed by SanD faculty Cristine Villagonzalo. Joining her were SanD faculty member Gennevieve Macam and PhD student Jerome Acosta. Other Filipino scientists and students from Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, University of the Philippines Diliman, and University of Santo Tomas also attended the event. The lectures and talks covered a variety of topics including flat bands, entanglement, and density functional theory. The next ICTP Asian Network activity will be held in Thailand in 2024.

Gennevieve Macam joins SanD faculty

sandadmin — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 05:39:49 +0000

The Structure and Dynamics Research Program welcomes our new faculty member, Dr. Gennevieve Macam. She is currently an associate professor at the National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan where she also obtained her PhD in Physics. Dr. Macam works on computational materials physics research primarily using first-principles density functional theory for materials research and discovery. Her main interests are in 2D materials, topological materials, Dirac semi-metals, graphene quantum dots, kagome magnets, and multiferroic materials. She has published her work in high-impact factor journals such as Science Advances, Nature Communications, and Physical Review Letters.

Dr. Macam is now accepting applications from current NIP graduate students to join her research subgroup.

Applicants may contact her directly by email: .

Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha Seminar 2023

sandadmin — Mon, 08 May 2023 02:55:52 +0000