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Materials Science and Engineering » Faculty


Photo of Sophia Ahmed Sophia Ahmed Visiting Instructional Assistant Professor

Ph.D. 2025, Texas A&M

Research Interests: Thermal Energy Storage, Phase Change Materials, and Phase Stability and Transformations. Engineering Education

Photo of Jennifer S. Andrew Jennifer Andrew Margaret A. Ross Professor
(352) 846-3345

Ph.D., 2008, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Interests: Ceramics, Biomaterials, Nanomaterials, Materials Processing, Polymeric Materials

Lab Website: Andrew Research Group

Photo of Megan Butala Megan Butala Assistant Professor
(352) 294-7876

Ph.D., 2017, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Interests: Energy Materials, Advanced Materials Characterization, Electronic Materials, Ceramics, Machine Learning and AI; energy storage materials, functional and electronic materials, lithium-ion batteries, structure-property relationships, X-ray diffraction, pair distribution function analysis, local structure, amorphous and disordered materials

Lab Website: Butala Research Group

Photo of Guilhem De Hoe Guilhem De Hoe Assistant Professor
(352) 273-0264

Ph.D., 2019, University of Minnesota

Research Interests: Polymeric Materials, Materials Processing, Nanomaterials, Biomaterials

Photo of Yijia Gu Yijia Gu Assistant Professor
352-273-0292

Ph.D. 2014, Pennsylvania State University

Research Interests: Computational Modeling and Simulation, Metallurgy, Electronic Materials, Ceramics, Nanomaterials, Machine Learning and AI, Materials Processing;  CALPHAD, Phase-field method, Ferroelectric materials, Recycling aluminum, Additive manufacturing, Microstructure evolution, Rapid solidification, Phase transformation

Photo of Richard Hennig Richard Hennig Professor, Alumni Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
(352) 392-7327

Ph.D., 2000, Washington University in St. Louis

Research interests: Machine Learning and AI, Computational Modeling and Simulation, Energy Materials, Electronic Materials, Engineering Education, Nanomaterials; AI-driven and ab initio materials science; deep learning and generative models for materials prediction and inverse design; interpretable machine-learning force fields; quantum and superconducting materials; molecular magnetic qubits and spin coherence; electronic-structure and phonon-based modeling of electron–phonon coupling; electrochemical and solid–liquid interfaces; and open computational frameworks linking predictive AI, first-principles simulation, and experiment.…

Photo of Jennifer Hite Jennifer Hite Professor
(352) 273-3714

Ph.D., 2006, University of Florida

Research Interests: Electronic Materials, Materials Processing, Advanced Materials Characterization, Energy Materials

Photo of Kevin S. Jones Kevin Jones MSE Graduate Coordinator, Distinguished Professor, Frederick N. Rhines Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
(352) 846-3301

Ph.D., 1987, University of California-Berkeley

Research Interests: Electronic materials, semiconductor processing and characterization, ion implantation, transmission electron microscopy.

Lab Website: Swamp Group

Impact of Materials on Society (IMOS) is on Instagram!

Dr. Kevin S. Jones is a Distinguished Professor and holds the Fredrick N Rhines Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at UF.…

Photo of Honggyu Kim Honggyu Kim Associate Professor
(352) 846-3766

Ph.D., 2015, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Research Interests: Advanced Materials Characterization, Electronic Materials, Ceramics, Machine Learning and AI, Energy Materials, Nanomaterials; Advanced electron microscopy techniques, Quantitative analysis of electron microscopy data, Digital image processing, Understanding materials properties at the atomic scale, Functional oxides and semiconductors

Lab Website: Kim Electron Microscopy Group

Photo of Tori Miller Tori Miller MSE Research Coordinator, Associate Professor, Vladimir A. Grodsky Professor of MSE
(352) 846-3373

Ph.D., 2016, University of California Santa Barbara

Research Interests: Metallurgy, Materials Processing, Advanced Materials Characterization, Machine Learning and AI; Fundamentals of Structural Evolution in Crystalline Materials, Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques, Recovery and Recrystallization, Deformation Mechanisms and Texture Development

Lab Website: Metallic Orientation, aNisotropy, and microSTructure Engineering Research (MONSTER) Group

Photo of Prajakatta Mulay Prajakatta Mulay Instructional Assistant Professor
(352) 846-3307

Ph.D., 2019, University of Akron

Research Interests: Polymeric Materials,  Biomaterials, Engineering Education, Nanomaterials, Machine Learning and AI; Enzyme Catalysis, High-Throughput Data-Driven Techniques

Photo of Sam Navarro Sam Navarro Assistant Professor
(352) 846-3318

Ph.D., 2020, University of Michigan

Research Interests: Biomaterials, Polymeric Materials, Nanomaterials; Polymer Synthesis, Hydrogels, Drug Delivery, Bioprinting, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Photo of Angelika Neitzel Angelika Neitzel Rhines Rising Star Robert DeHoff Assistant Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
(352) 294-6609

Ph.D., 2017, University of Minnesota

Research Interests: Polymeric Materials; structure and phase behavior of charged polymer blends and solutions; small-angle scattering; rheology and additive manufacturing

Photo of Juan Claudio Nino Juan Claudio Nino Professor
(352) 846-3787

Ph. D., 2002, The Pennsylvania State University

Research Interests: Ceramics, Energy Materials, Advanced Materials Characterization, Electronic Materials, Machine Learning and AI, Nuclear Fuels and Materials, Nuclear Security and Detection, Materials Processing

Lab Website: Nino Research Group (NRG)

Photo of David P. Norton David Norton Professor and Vice President of Research
(352) 392-9271

Ph. D., 1989, Louisiana State University

Research Interests: Electronic Materials; electronic, photonic, and magnetic thin-film materials; electronic oxide materials; thin-film deposition

Photo of Tommy Pashuck Tommy Pashuck Associate Professor

Research Interests: Biomaterials, Polymeric Materials; hydrogels, cell-material interactions, bioinspired materials, peptide materials, mechanical properties.

Photo of Gayani Pathiraja Gayani Pathiraja Visiting Instructional Assistant Professor
(352) 846-3320

Ph.D., 2021, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Research Interests: Nanomaterials for sensing and wastewater treatment applications, thermally resistant materials for extreme environments, and the structure-property relationships of semiconductor nanomaterials, transmission electron microscopy

Photo of Simon R. Phillpot Simon Phillpot Associate Department Chair, Distinguished Professor
(352) 846-3782

Ph.D., 1985, University of Florida

Research Interests: Computational Modeling and Simulation, Nuclear Fuels and Materials, Energy Materials, Metallurgy, Ceramics

Lab Website: Phillpot Research Group

Photo of Nancy J Ruzycki Nancy Ruzycki Master Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate Laboratories
(352) 846-2991

Ph.D., 2003, Tulane University

Research Interests: Engineering Education; characterization techniques, surface physics, solid-state devices, dye-sensitized solar cells.

Photo of Aroba Saleem Aroba Saleem MSE Undergrad Coordinator, Instructional Associate Professor
(352) 294-1789

Ph.D., McGill University, 2017

Research Interests: Metallurgy, Advanced Materials Characterization, Engineering Education

Photo of Wolfgang Sigmund Wolfgang Sigmund Emeritus Faculty
(352) 846-3343

Ph.D., 1992, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany

Research Interests: Semiconductor oxides for energy harvesting and storage, photocatalysis and photolysis, electrodes for secondary batteries, barrier coatings, nanostructures in surface science and, biomedical applications of nanoparticles

Lab Website: Sigmund’s Group

Photo of Ravit Silverstein Ravit Silverstein Assistant Professor
(352) 294-1690

Ph.D., 2016,

Research Interests: Metallurgy, Ceramics, Advanced Materials Characterization, Energy Materials, Machine Learning and AI, Materials Processing, Nuclear Fuels and Materials;  High-temperature Materials, Metastability and Interface Engineering, Electron Microscopy, In-situ Microscopy, Microstructure Evolution, Deformation Behavior and Mechanical Performance in Extremes, Green Processing & Energy

Website: Metastability in Extreme Environments (ME2)

Photo of Michael Tonks Michael Tonks Department Chair, Professor, Alumni Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
(352) 846-3779

Ph.D., 2008, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Research Interests: Computational Modeling and Simulation, Nuclear Fuels and Materials, Ceramics, Electronic Materials, Energy Materials, Machine Learning and AI, Materials Processing, Metallurgy, Nanomaterials, Nuclear Security and Detection, Radiochemistry

Lab Website: Tonks Research Group

Photo of Xian Wang Xian Wang MSE Research Scientist

Research Interests: Computational Modeling and Simulation, Nuclear Fusion, Machine Learning and AI, Quantum Computing, Atomic and Molecular Scattering

Photo of Jiangeng Xue Jiangeng Xue Emeritus Faculty
(352) 846-3775

Ph.D., 2005, Princeton University

Research Interests: Nanostructured electronic materials, organic-inorganic hybrid materials, surfaces and interfaces, energy materials, photovoltaic cells, light-emitting diodes and other optoelectronic devices

Lab Website: Xue Research Group

Photo of Vishal Yadav Vishal Yadav Research Assistant Scientist

Ph.D., 2018, KU Leuven, Belgium

Research Interests: microstructure modeling using the phase-field method and machine learning-based approaches

Photo of Yang Yang Yang Yang Research Assistant Scientist
(906) 370-0273

Ph.D., 2020, Michigan Technological University

Research Interests: Metallurgy, Materials Processing, Advanced Materials Characterization; Mechanical Behavior, Kinetics, Crystallographic Properties, Materials Processing and Characterization