Spotlight

Since joining the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) in 2015, Susan Gentry has made waves in the College of Engineering through her assistant professor of teaching materials science and engineering position. She has overseen MSE curriculum development and education research, all while cementing herself in the department and forming relationships with her colleagues and the students she teaches each quarter.

Jonathan Thomas is a passionate undergraduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). He works with carbon fiber composites in the ACERS laboratory on campus and is an active member of the Formula SAE car team at UC Davis. The department sat down with him to chat about his life and undergraduate career.

MSE: What activities (clubs, jobs, research, internship, etc.) have you been involved in during your time at UC Davis? 

Max Zielsdorf is an undergraduate transfer student who works with nanoceramics in Professor Ricardo Castro’s lab. He is also an officer for the UC Davis chapter of MASC for the 2018-19 school year. The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) sat down with him to chat about his life and undergraduate career at UC Davis.

Lauren Hughes graduated in 2018 with a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. During her time at UC Davis, Lauren received a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for her graduate-level research work with electron microscopy. Below, Lauren reflects on her time in the Materials Science and Engineering graduate program and where she is headed next.

Department of Materials Science and Engineering: What was your favorite thing about Davis?

Doctoral student Tucker Murrey earned his bachelor’s degree in Material Science and Engineering-Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering in fall 2014 from the University of Washington before joining UC Davis in 2015.

As a member of Professor Adam Moulé’s lab, Tucker works on two projects: characterizing the structural properties of semiconducting polymer thin films with elastic neuron scattering techniques and upscaling a novel photo-thermal patterning process for organic photovoltaic applications.

Jose Hernandez is a second-year master’s student in the Department of Materials Science and an Engineering Business Development Fellow for the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He earned his bachelor of science in bio-engineering from the University of California, Merced. His research focuses on reducing the amount of greenhouse gas allowed to reach the upper atmosphere.

About 70 doctoral students from different departments — Integrative Genetics and Genomics, Food Science, Microbiology, Materials Science and Engineering — fill room 1022 in the UC Davis Life Sciences building for course MCB 294, “Current Progress in Biotechnology.”

Arseniy Bokov is an international doctoral student researching the design of nanocrystalline ceramic materials. Specifically, he is looking at how to improve their mechanical properties.

Christine Smudde is a Materials Science and Engineering graduate student at UC Davis. She conducts research in a material characterization lab with Professor Jeff Gibeling, where she analyzes fatigue, fracture and creep behavior in materials. She hopes to eventually collaborate with companies to find and supply materials to the growing materials industry.

DAVIS, Calif.; March 15, 2018 – Jackson Hull (’00) was a double major in mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering at UC Davis, and also has a master’s degree in information systems from UC Berkeley. He and his wife Aurelia (’01, communications) live in the U.K. with their three young children and their dog, Paddington. They are also co-captains of a UC Davis Kiva Lending team that launched in September 2008.

Ever wondered whether Iron Man could really power a flying suit of armor with an “arc reactor” the size of a soup can, or whether the Winter Soldier’s metal arm could really act just like his flesh-and-blood arm?  Consider these and other superhero questions with EMS 2: The Science of Superheroes this spring quarter, and join materials scientists finding out what it would take to make comic book fantasy into reality.  Also check out Prof.