Ceramics


Ceramics have unique characteristics (e.g., high resilience and strength, tunable electronic and ionic transport, bio-compatibility, ferroelectric response) that make them desirable for a variety of different applications. At UF, ceramics research tackles material design and processing challenges related to gas-turbine engines, battery materials, nuclear energy, drug delivery, and many more!

Faculty

Photo of Assel Aitkaliyeva Assel Aitkaliyeva Associate Professor
(352) 846-3778

Ph.D., 2012, Texas A&M University

Research Interests: Nuclear Fuels and Materials, with emphasis on characterization and property evaluation; Mechanical and Thermal properties of materials; Reactor Irradiation; Radiation damage in materials; Ion Implantation; Kinetics; Composites; Nanostructured materials; Multi-Scale simulation of nuclear fuel.

Lab Website: MAterials for Nuclear Advancement and Technology in Extreme Environments (MANATEE) Group

Photo of Jennifer S. Andrew Jennifer Andrew Associate Dean for Research at Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
(352) 846-3345

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

Research Interests: nanomaterials, nanocomposites for electronic and biomedical applications, magnetic materials, multiferroics, polymers

Lab Website: Andrew Research Group

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

 

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

Research Interests: 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 Yijia Gu Yijia Gu Assistant Professor
352-273-0292

 

Education: Ph.D. 2014, Pennsylvania State University

Research Interest: Computational materials, CALPHAD, Phase-field method, Machine learning, Ferroelectric materials, Physical metallurgy, Recycling aluminum, Additive manufacturing, Microstructure evolution, Rapid solidification, Phase transformation

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

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

Research Interests: 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 Juan Claudio Nino Juan Claudio Nino Professor
(352) 846-3787

 

Education: Ph. D., 2002, The Pennsylvania State University

Research Interests: sustainable material synthesis; advanced functional ceramics; nuclear energy; applied and explainable AI in materials science, neuromorphic memory, connectomics and graph theory, single crystal growth, materials under extreme environments; radiation effects on electronics; plant-derived materials; bioceramics.

Lab Website: Nino Research Group (NRG)

Photo of Wolfgang Sigmund Wolfgang Sigmund Professor
(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: High-temperature Materials; Metastability and Interface Engineering; Electron Microscopy; In-situ Microscopy; Microstructure Evolution; Deformation Behavior and Mechanical Performance in Extremes; Green Processing & Energy

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

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

Research Interests: Computational materials science, Computational mechanics, Coevolution of microstructure and properties, Materials in Harsh Environments, Mesoscale modeling and simulation, Nuclear materials, Numerical methods

Lab Website: Tonks Research Group