Despite thousands of years of engineering use, the process of developing or selecting a new alloy and process for a given application is far from straightforward. Metals research at UF is focused on designing new alloys and processes for extreme environments, including hypersonic flight, nuclear reactors, space exploration, and blast impacts. Other avenues of metals research focus on biocompatible implantable alloys or flexible, stretchable metallic circuits for wearable electronics.
Faculty
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
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
Education: Ph.D., 2000, Washington University in St. Louis
Research interests: 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.…
Education: Ph.D., 2016, University of California Santa Barbara
Research Interests: 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
Ph.D., McGill University, 2017
Research Interests: Engineering Education; Material Characterization; Non-destructive Evaluation (Electromagnetic Measurements); Structure-Property Relationship; Micromagnetics
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
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