• defect diffusion in Pu
• long-time annealing of radiation damage in ceramics
• mechanics of carbon nanotubes
• first-principles hyperdynamics
• bulk silicon defect diffusion mechanisms

Blas has been a LANL Technical Staff Member in MST-8 since 2004, following completion of a 3 year postdoctoral research position in T-12 at LANL.  Blas is internationally recognized for his role in the development of advanced atomistic simulation methods (for instance, advanced molecular dynamics methods). He is also recognized for application of these computer modeling techniques to materials science problems, especially for examining radiation damage phenomena in materials. Blas is currently co-PI with Kurt Sickafus on a DOE-OBES program which examines fundamentals of radiation damage behavior in ceramics. Of his 26 refereed publications, Blas has 3 first-authored Phys. Rev. Letters, which is quite an accomplishment at this point in his career. He is also co-author on one paper with more than 200 citations. But perhaps most impressive is that Blas has 8 invited technical presentations at international conferences in just the six years (2001-2006) since he completed his Ph.D. in 2000.

• PhD, Physics, University of Washington, 2001
• MS, Physics, University of Washington, 1996
• BA, Physics, University of Idaho, 1994