Faculty

Michael Free

Research Interests

My research interests include hydrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, corrosion, and materials synthesis. I have worked on a variety of research projects involving metals extraction, separation, recovery, and refining as well as corrosion, materials synthesis, and additive manufacturing. The hydrometallurgy and electrometallurgy research projects have focused on copper, gold, titanium, rare earth elements, and critical metals. The corrosion investigations have involved steel, aluminum, and additively manufactured alloys.
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Dmitry Bedrov

Research Interest

My research interest lies in the area of multiscale modeling of soft-condensed matter systems that exhibit complex, multiscale structure often arising from molecular and super-molecular self-assembly.

Zlatan Aksamija

Research Interest

My research is in electronic materials, low-dimensional, heterostructures, and nanostructured semiconductors. The main focus of my work is on heat dissipation in nanoelectronics, nanoscale heat transport, and the coupling between electronic and thermal transport in electronic materials. These properties are especially important in two-dimensional materials such as graphene or molybdenum disulfide, where van der Waals stacking of heterogenous layers enables new properties but leads to poor interface conductance. I am also interested in the reverse problem of thermoelectric energy conversion for applications in scavenging waste heat. There, I study thermoelectric conversion in organic materials, which offer environmentally-friendly synthesis but their amorphous structure inhibits electronic transport. Using first-principles computational tools, my group sheds light on the mapping between atomic and mesoscale structure and electro-thermal transport.

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Jeff Bates

Research Interest

My research is on polymer materials and their interfaces with biological systems.  Our projects range from sustainable polymer materials that become nutrients for microorganisms to biomedical materials that interact with biomarkers, biological signals, hormones, and single cells.  In addition, we work on the physics of glide performance in skiing and snowboarding, where we characterize the snow interface on the temperature-dependent properties of polymers and waxes.

Darryl Butt

Research Interest

Ravi Chandran

Research Interests

Physical Metallurgy and Mechanical Behavior of Materials. Research focus on fatigue and fracture mechanics, materials processing, Li-ion battery material science, modeling of diffusion phenomena, first principles methods and computational alloy design. Also performs failure analysis investigations to determine the root cause of failures in materials and structures.

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Zhigang Zak Fang

Research Interests

Cemented tungsten carbide, metal hydrides for hydrogen and thermal energy storage.

Sivaraman Guruswamy

Research Interests

Physical metallurgy, Magnetic and Magnetostrictive Materials, UV and THz Plasmonic Metamaterials, and Materials Processing.

Huiwen Ji

Research Interest

Though crystalline materials are often characterized by periodic order, of particular interest to my research is how correlated disorder and competing local forces give rise to unusual phenomena that are inaccessible to perfect crystals, yet are crucial for energy storage and other applications. We approach these scientific questions by coupling synthesis and property measurements with advanced total scattering and spectroscopic characterizations.
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Jiaqi Jin

Research Interest

Surface chemistry of minerals, characterization of 3D structures in micro and nano scale, and fluid flow through porous media

Mark Koopman

Research Interest

The Effects of Molybdenum Additions on the Sintering and Mechanical Behavior of Ultrafine-Grained Tungsten.

Chen-Luh Lin

Research Interest

Particle damage and exposure analysis in HPGR crushing of selected copper ores for column leaching.

Feng Liu

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the materials modeling and simulation from the atomic to mesoscopic scales. We develop and apply both first-principles computational methods and phenomenological theoretical models to study a wide spectrum of materials properties in various materials systems. Most recently, we have focused on modeling and simulation of properties of surfaces and interfaces, growth mechanisms of thin films, and self-assembly and self-organization of nanostructures.
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Jan Miller

Research Interests

Mineral processing and coal preparation, flotation separations.

Manoranjan Misra

Research Interests

Renewable and alternate energy, biofuels, nuclear waste recycling.

Swomitra Mohanty

Research Interests

Titanium-oxide nanotubes for organic compounds (VOCs) detection for disease diagnosis.

Prashant Sarswat

Research Interests

Laser-Assisted Manufacturing, Material Design and Development, 2D Layered Materials, Recycling, Materials Chemistry.

Mike Scarpulla

Research Interest

Compound semiconductor research, laser processing of compound semiconductors, and photovoltaics. We have current projects in CdTe, CZTSSe, and III-V’s.
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Dinesh Shetty

Research Interest

Design, Process and Characterize Functional and Structural Ceramics. Two specific areas of interest are designing functionally-graded carbides in Group VB metal (Ta, Nb, V) -C binary systems and magnetic-field induced texture in non-cubic oxide ceramics for optical and electro-optical applications.
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Michael Simpson

Research Interests

Nuclear fuel pyroprocessing, Molten salt electrochemistry and spectroscopy.
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Hong Yong Sohn

Research Interest

Chemical Synthesis of Inorganic Nanomaterials, Hydrogen Storage Materials Development, Metallurgical Process Engineering, Fluid.

Gerald Stringfellow

Research Interests

Ceramics, advanced materials, microelectronics, and a broad range of topics related to materials science and electronics.
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Taylor Sparks

Research Interest

Materials informatics and using machine learning to discover, synthesize, and characterize new energy materials.
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Pei Sun

Research Interests

Powder Metallurgy; Additive Manufacturing

Ashutosh Tiwari

Research Interest

My research is on advanced materials for application in a variety of areas including Nano-Electronics, Spintronics, Spin-Caloritronics, Thermoelectrics and Gas Sensors. We use pulsed laser deposition technique for designing new functional materials and smart structures. Our current emphasis is on Oxide and Chalcogenides based 2D materials.

Anil Virkar

Research Interest

Research interests in fuel cells, batteries, sensors, high temperature materials (ceramics), solid state and liquid state electrochemistry, materials synthesis, energy-related research.

Chen Wang

Research Interest

Most polymer materials are not recycled today because they are not designed to be recyclable. Our research group is broadly interested in recyclable-by-design polymer materials that enable a circular economy of plastics, composites, flexible electronics, etc. Our approach integrates molecular design, structure-property relationship, and performance-driven process development. Please check out the group website for more information.

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Xuming Wang

Research Interest

Flotation chemistry, Spectroscopy analysis at surface and interface, Industrial mineral processing, Wastewater treatment, Gypsum dehydration/rehydration processing.

Xinbo Yang

Research Interest

Mineral processing and extractive metallurgy with research interests in rare earth element extraction and purification, integration of biotechnologies in extractive metallurgy, strategic material recycling, and mine waste treatment and reclamation.

Ling Zang

Research Interest

Current research interests include molecular self-assembly, organic semiconductors and nanostructures, nanoscale imaging, molecular probe, fluorescence sensing, optoelectronic sensors and nanodevices, as well as the relevant applications in solar energy conversion, and trace chemical and explosives detection.
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