Metals


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

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

 

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.…

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

 

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

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

Ph.D., McGill University, 2017

Research Interests: Engineering Education; Material Characterization; Non-destructive Evaluation (Electromagnetic Measurements); Structure-Property Relationship; Micromagnetics

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