Student Research

Nelson Isaacson

Picture Content:  SEM image of a fractured Hydroxyapatite scaffold. My research revolves around investigating the failure mechanisms of 3D-printed scaffolds for use in bone regeneration. This is an example scaffold that was fractured under compression loading, and the internal rod fracture surface is being investigated to determine how to better strengthen the material and the scaffold

Alex Sutherland

Alex Sutherland

Picture Content: This photo is of ball-milled stainless steel scrap that will be sintered using spark plasma sintering. I am currently working on recycling stainless steel and titanium scrap using a more energy-efficient process while also maintaining or even improving some of its mechanical properties.

Syperhydrophobic titania

Roberta Maia Sabino

Picture Content: Superhydrophobic titania nanotube with droplets of water, blood plasma, and whole blood. As you can see, the droplets do not spread on the nanotube’s surface, which shows its superhydrophobicity (surface repels water/blood). This material is for blood-contacting medical devices that prevents blood from clotting.

bulk mechanical properties

Alex Preston

Picture Content: This picture is of stainless steel powder being sintered at heating rates within a graphite die. My research focuses on controlling the microstructure of materials and how these structures, such as porosity and grain size on the nano and micro scale, influence bulk mechanical properties.

mayenite collage

Brody DeBoer

I am currently working on the diffusion of cations into Mayenite electride. This diffusion study will lead into the doping of Mayenite electride to increase its material properties. 

Rashedul Islam Research

Rashedul Islam

Thin ply high strain composite materials (HSC) are of great interest in deployable space structure. Engineers and scientists need more engineering approaches to predict the behavior of the HSC materials in the extreme space-environment although the constituent materials of HSC are aerospace-grade high-performance resin. My research concerns the characterization of the viscoelastic behavior of HSC materials from neat resin to laminae and laminate level to better understand viscoelastic behavior and design the efficient deployable space structure.