Faculty and Staff

Meet our materials science and engineering faculty and staff
Chair

Robert Savinell

Department Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, Chemical Engineering
Develops high-performance electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies through fundamental and applied studies of interfacial and transport processes
Faculty

Laura Bruckman

Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Develops predictive lifetime models for materials degradation related to stress conditions and induced degradation mechanisms evaluated by quantitative spectroscopic characterization of materials

Jennifer Carter

Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
deformation mechanisms of metals and metal-matrix composites; fatigue, fracture, and creep; failure analysis; electron microscopy; 3D microscopy; novel methodologies for multi-scale material characterization; data science and analytics; open science

Frank Ernst

Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Studies and engineers microstructures, interfaces and surfaces of metallic materials by novel methods of processing and microcharacterization

Roger French

Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Director, SDLE Research Center
Applies data science and analytics to energy and materials science research problems

John Lewandowski

Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Director, Nitinol Commercialization Accelerator
Director, Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center (AMMRC)
Researches material reliability for biomedical and structural applications, advanced materials manufacturing and processing/microstructure/property relationships. Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing.

Jim McGuffin-Cawley

Director,
Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Develops new methodologies for material processing, characterizes processing-property relationships, studies high-temperature diffusion and solid-state reactions, fosters industry-university relationships

Robert Savinell

Department Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, Chemical Engineering
Develops high-performance electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies through fundamental and applied studies of interfacial and transport processes

Alp Sehirlioglu

Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Develops new materials through exploitation of interfaces to control functionality and exploration of multi-functionality for energy-related applications

Gerhard Welsch

Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Develops new processing methods and designs for energy storage and optimized materials

Matthew Willard

Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Investigates phase transformations and materials processing, especially their impact on structure and properties of materials
Research Faculty

Hoda Amani Hamedani

Research Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Develops multifunctional materials and flexible nanostructured platforms for electrochemical and biomedical devices, localized drug delivery, neural interfacing, and electrochemical sensing; studies nanomaterials evolution/interactions in controlled (liquid) environments using in-situ characterization techniques

Erika Barcelos

Research Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

Develops geospatial predictive models and geospatial data science tools to study climate and environmental related phenomena and their impacts in nature. Develop data management and data integration frameworks for data and metadata to enable FAIRification.

Janet Gbur

Research Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

Pawan Tripathi

Research Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

Develop data analysis techniques, tools, and pipelines for high dimensional datasets in materials science such as synchrotron XRD, XCT, and advanced manufacturing to reveal insights, and correlations and improve predictive modeling leveraging deep learning, artificial intelligence, and statistical methods.

Materials Data Science, Advanced Manufacturing, Synchrotron Data Analysis, Image Processing, Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Uncertainty Quantification, Atomistic Simulation

Jeffrey Yarus

Research Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Emeritus Faculty

Bud Baeslack III

Professor Emeritus, Materials Science and Engineering
Researching materials science and engineering

Mark De Guire

Associate Professor Emeritus, Materials Science and Engineering
Analyzes performance of ceramics in energy applications, including fuel cells and oxygen transport membranes

Arthur Heuer

Professor Emeritus, Materials Science and Engineering

Peter Lagerlof

Associate Professor Emeritus, Materials Science and Engineering
Develops a unified theory for plastic deformation via slip and deformation twinning

David Matthiesen

Associate Professor Emeritus, Materials Science and Engineering
Director, Wind Energy Research and Commercialization (WERC) Center
Develops process engineering solutions for the manufacturing of new magnetic materials

Pirouz Pirouz

Professor Emeritus, Materials Science and Engineering
Optimizes semiconductors, electron microscopy, mechanisms of twinning and metal-ceramic interfaces
 

Associated Faculty 

Jeffrey Hoyt, McMaster University

Ina Martin, Case Western Reserve University MORE Center

Badri K. Narayanan, Lincoln Electric, Vice President, Global Consumables

Rudolf Podgornik, Josef Stefan Institute, Slovenia

Jeffrey Yarus, Adjunct Professor

 

Research Staff

Hoda Amani Hamedani, Research Assistant Professor

Janet Gbur, Research Assistant Professor

 

Administrative Staff

Jennifer Aquino-Pyles

Sr. Procurement Specialist, Departments of Macromolecular Science and Engineering; Materials Science & Engineering

Provides procurement services for the departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering; Macromolecular Science & Engineering; and Materials Science & Engineering

Kathleen Bates

Manager, Academic & Research Operations, Departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering; Macromolecular Science & Engineering; and Materials Science & Engineering

Manages administrative support for the academic and research operations for the departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering.

Theresa Claytor

Graduate Admissions Coordinator and Student Services, Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering and Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Tiffany Hampton

Procurement Specialist, provides procurement services for the departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Macromolecular Science & Engineering, and Materials Science & Engineering

Leslie Johnson

Assistant Manager, Academic & Research Operations, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Macromolecular Science and Engineering; and Materials Science and Engineering

Assists the manager, academic coordinators and research administration teams for the departments of Chemical and Biomolecular and Engineering, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering

MacKenzie Kreutzberg

Develops, implements and manages procedures for the administration and operation of the Office of the Chair for the Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Richard Tomazin

Engineer 3,

Provides engineering support for the Materials Science & Engineering Department, Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center, AMMRC, and the Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension Center, SDLE.