Faculty

Assistant Professor Roopali Kukreja has received a 2019 Air Force Office of Science and Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Research grant for her proposal, “Unraveling the Speed Limit of Magnetization Dynamics in Magnetic Heterostructures.”

Kukreja studies methods to manipulate magnetism in nanomaterials at femtosecond (1x10-15 second) timescales. She uses x-rays to better understand the fundamental mechanisms that enable her to control magnetism with optical lasers.

Materials science and engineering distinguished professor Alexandra Navrotsky recently co-founded Thermodynamics Consortium (ThermoCon), which aims to connect thermodynamics researchers across multiple disciplines to promote thermodynamics research and deepen ties between academia, industry, national labs and equipment manufacturers.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science has funded two large, multi-institution research Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) proposals that include Materials Science and Engineering faculty Subhash Risbud and Yayoi Takamura.

Story originally posted by the College of Engineering Staff.

The College of Engineering is pleased to announce materials science and engineering professor Ricardo Castro as the College’s Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. His appointment was effective July 9.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Subhash Mahajan as the recipient of the 2018 Acta Materialia Gold Medal. This award recognizes demonstrated leadership in the field of Materials Science and Engineering and is intended to honor outstanding contributions to the field while also improving the awareness of the fundamental importance and diversity of materials research, both within the community and the public at large.

Congratulations, Dr. Mahajan!

UC Davis Professor James Shackelford, his wife Penelope, and his colleague Dr. Mario Malinconico had the opportunity on April 9 to present some mementos of their work to Pope Francis.  All three attended the International Conference on Solid Urban Waste Management in Rome, which was organized through the International Union of Physical and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), and where Prof. Shackelford presented on online education to increase recycling awareness.  They were invited by the Vatican to attend the Jubilee of Mercy Audience, where they met the Pope.

On February 29, 2016 the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science was reconstituted into two new departments: the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Currently we are in a transition period which we expect to last for the rest of this academic year (2015-16) .  The departments will operate independently starting July 1, 2016.

Prof. Mahajan has published an article entitled “The role of materials science in the evolution of microelectronics” in the latest MRS Bulletin.  He writes on how materials science solved the critical challenges that allow us to use silicon as we do today and helped bring us into the Silicon Age (a riff off the ‘Bronze Age’ nomenclature, for the period more commonly known as the Information Age).

Please join the CHMS Department in congratulating Prof. James Shackelford!  Prof. Shackelford will be receiving the North American Materials Education Symposia’s inaugural award for outstanding contributions to Materials Education on Thursday, March 17, 2016.  He will also be speaking at the Symposium, where materials scientists discuss ideas, tools, and best practices for teaching materials across engineering, design, and science.

Prof. Sabyasachi Sen was invited to speak at the American Ceramic Society’s Glass & Optical Materials Division and Deutsche Glastechnische Gesellschaft Joint Annual Meeting.