Michael G. Lerner

Michael G. Lerner

Associate Professor of Physics
Smith College Department of Physics

CV  |  Google Scholar  |  GitHub  |  Bluesky

I study membranes, computational oncology, nucleic acids, proteins and dynamics. I spend my time developing the physics-based methods required to understand the interplay between the four so that we can address fundamental biological questions. You can see more details on my group’s research page. I am a computational biophysicist, and my work includes molecular dynamics simulations, computational methods design, and the development of purely analytical models ranging from differential equations to computational topology. I’ve even been known to enjoy lab work including both single molecule studies on nucleic acids and scanned probe microscopy on biochemical systems.

I’m interested in broader health impacts, and I spent my last sabbatical at Johns Hopkins, applying my background in computational statistical mechanics, software design, and data analysis to reduce the suffering and death caused by cancer. Can you believe Feynman path integrals can teach us about biological networks and how to prioritize potential anti-cancer drugs?!

I use and develop open-source packages whenever I can, leaning towards Python and PyMOL in particular. I use CHARMM, AMBER, and GROMACS for my simulations and write a lot of Python code for analysis, though I have been known to use R when needed. I wrote and maintained the PyMOL-APBS plugin for many years, as well as PyPAT. Recently, I’ve been putting my code up on github.

I also have a strong passion for teaching and a diverse teaching background: everything from spending a year working for City Year in an inner-city Chicago public school, to mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, to teaching calculus-based E&M labs and lectures for the University of Michigan’s physics department, to my current position in the Department of Physics at Smith College. (Before Smith, I spent fifteen years in the Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy at Earlham College.)

Every year in my introductory classes, students do independent projects to push back at the false narrative that physics has been performed entirely by people who look like Isaac Newton. This resulted in a set of freely-available, automatically-generated slides, tied to the relevant sections of popular introductory texts, and organized so that any instructor can easily incorporate more inclusive information in their own courses. Are you interested in physics? Please feel free to contribute! Do you teach physics? Please use these materials! I’d love to help incorporate them into your classes!

In my free time, I spend time with my family and our border collie, play ultimate frisbee, powerlift, and love to play FISH, a six person card game whose rules are archived here.

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