MSE News: Spring 2023

Welcome Message from the Department Head

Dear alumni, students, parents and friends,

We have had another dynamic year in MSE. I’ve enjoyed getting to connect with so many individuals and groups involved with the department.

The star of this issue, is our students. In these pages you will learn about Sophie Paul who became one of the first to earn the additional Engineering and Arts major, as well as Matthew Frame and Lukas Glist who spent their summer in England performing research related to sustainable materials development, among many other achievers.

In the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, we are committed to student success and belonging. To elevate this, this past year we introduced a new leadership position to support students’ development of meaningful relationships with faculty, staff, postdocs, and peers. Vincent Sokalski was named Director of Student Inclusion and Community to promote an inclusive and enriching educational experience while ensuring educational opportunities are equitable and widespread.

I’m also delighted to introduce you to our three new faculty members: Rachel Kurchin, Amanda “Mandie” Krause, and Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi. Each of these women bring a unique perspective and vast knowledge to our department.

I hope you enjoy reading about the accomplishments of our community members. Thank you again for your commitment to MSE.

Sincerely,

Beth Dickey

Teddy & Wilton Hawkins Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Materials Science & Engineering

EDITOR

Monica Cooney, Communications Manager

WRITERS

Lynn Shea, Sara Vaccar, Emily Forney, Kaitlyn Landram, Monica Cooney

DESIGN

Debra Vieira, Senior Multimedia Designer, College of Engineering

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WELCOME TO THE SELF-ASSEMBLED JUNGLE

When plastic materials are processed or recycled, their fundamental properties can degrade due to damage caused by deformation. Recycling processes tend to break molecular bonds inside the materials, making them weaker and less durable. One way that plastics can be made more sustainable is by using selfassembled soft materials that can self-heal after damage. Self-assembled materials spontaneously organize and can reform molecular connections after being damaged, allowing the materials to recover their strength over time. Many researchers are exploring applications of self-healing materials where plastic components are difficult to replace or repair, like nanotechnology inside computers or biomedical materials inside human bodies. However, scientists do not have a thorough understanding of their behavior at the molecular scale.

Thomas O’Connor, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, is working to change that. He and his team of collaborators are using molecular simulations to study a type of self-assembling materials called associating polymers. These polymers are made of long molecular chains that contain sticky groups along their length. The sticky groups are attracted to each other and aggregate to form clusters that connect different chains together into a network that might look like a bowl of molecular noodles. When the polymers are damaged by deformation, the sticky clusters can reform and heal the material by forming a molecular scar. Stickier clusters can form stronger scars, but if the sticky interactions become too strong, very large clusters will form, and the polymer will become too rigid to manipulate in manufacturing.

To understand how associating polymers behave when stretched, O’Connor simulated the behavior of polymer chains during elongational deformation. He found that as he stretched the networks, sticky clusters inside the

material did not react in a uniform way. The largest and strongest clusters tended to break up and allow chains to flow like a liquid, while other weaker clusters would not break and prevented chains from elongating. This heterogeneous response—different molecular behaviors from the same stimulus—is exciting to materials theorists like O’Connor because it helps explain why these materials are so unpredictable during manufacturing.

“Typically, the way you write a theory for a material is to ask, what is the average response of the polymer chains to what I am doing?” O’Connor explained. “But with this network there are two distinct behaviors happening. Some chains are stretched out and some chains are collapsed. The average would be somewhere in the middle and won’t capture either.”

Conversely, when O’Connor sped up the simulation to stretch the polymer chains more quickly, he found that the faster the chains were stretched, the more similarly they all behaved. At high speeds, the clusters that acted as permanent connections broke apart and formed many smaller clusters with similar properties to the smaller clusters already in existence. “This showed us that all hope is not lost for working with, processing, and one day recycling self-assembled materials.” O’Connor elaborated. “While these systems have a new and messy way of behaving, this messiness follows some rules because the way the system breaks up creates a kind of self-organization. I am looking forward to exploring what these networks will do when we can more carefully control them.”

Using simulations, O’Connor’s team can precisely control the size and stickiness of the clusters and can evaluate how more carefully architected associating networks will respond to elongational flow. This research published in Physical Review X is foundational toward the future of processing self-assembled materials.

“If we can put polymers on the surface of nanoparticles, we can improve the interactions between them and make materials more mechanically robust and easier to form.”

--Michael Bockstaller, Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

HARNESSING THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF POLYMER RECYCLING

Polymers are lightweight, durable, and easily processed into fabricated parts, features that promoted polymers to become the most relevant class of engineering materials by volume. However, recycling polymers is a challenge that materials scientists have been researching for decades.

An alternate route toward a more sustainable polymer industry is to increase the service lifetime of polymers. An intriguing new concept is to impart the ability to “self-heal” from structural damage. Michael Bockstaller, professor of materials science and engineering, in collaboration with Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, professor of chemistry, has discovered that the binding of copolymers on the surface of nanoparticles that are already used in industrial manufacturing provides an economic and scalable route toward self-healing polymers with increased strength and toughness. Normally when you think of the building blocks of materials you think of atoms. In Bockstaller’s research group, this concept inspired a new approach to fabricate functional materials by assembling nanoparticle building blocks using a form of atom transfer, radical polymerization, a technique invented and developed by Matyjaszewski. The properties of the resulting materials can be varied by controlling the interactions between nanoparticle building blocks. This concept opens up new possibilities to vary properties of engineering materials without having to change their chemical composition—a feature that is highly beneficial in the context of recyclability.

While working to make these particles more amenable for fabrication technologies like additive manufacturing, Bockstaller’s team experimented with putting copolymers at the surface of nanoparticles.

“If we can put polymers on the surface of nanoparticles, we can improve the interactions between them and make materials more mechanically robust and easier to form,” Bockstaller said.

Adds Matyjaszewski, “This work illustrates how controlling macromolecular architecture can dramatically enhance properties of various advanced materials.”

Copolymers are a special class of polymers that are made up of two different monomers and exhibit self-healing properties. The researchers found that when copolymers were added onto the surface of nanoparticles, new structures were formed that enhanced the polymer’s self-healing properties. This discovery is foundational to improving the recyclability of polymers.

“This enables us to avoid material failure,” Bockstaller explained. “If the material can self-heal, we reduce the need to discard materials damaged by stress.”

Bockstaller’s group will continue to explore strategies to maximize strength and toughness of copolymerbased self-healing materials and to make them available to scalable production methods.

This research was published in Macromolecules.

RECENT ENGINEERING GRADUATE MAYA GARG DISCUSSES HER EXPERIENCE AS A VOLUNTEER TUTOR FOR INCARCERATED PEOPLE IN ALLEGHENY COUNTY.

HUMAN CONNECTIONS

As an undergraduate, Maya Garg found time to make human connections outside the classroom. As part of her study in materials science and engineering (MSE) and biomedical engineering (BME), she did research studying adipose tissue and how it functions in the human body with Rosalyn Abbott, assistant professor of biomedical engineering. But when she wasn’t being active on campus, the recent graduate was out in the community of Pittsburgh giving back through volunteering. While she was a student, she volunteered with Alpha Phi Omega, UPMC Hospitals, and with the Petey Greene Program to provide services to the people of the region.

The Petey Greene Program invites university students to tutor people in multiple cities who are or have previously been incarcerated, both adults and youth. It is named for Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene who, after his own incarceration, went on to become a successful media personality and activist. The program was introduced to Carnegie Mellon Engineering students when Vincent Sokalski, professor of materials science and engineering, invited the program’s regional manager, Taliya Allen, to do a virtual information session in spring 2020.

Sokalski chairs the MSE Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Council and is also a part of the DEI Committee for the College of Engineering. In his role, he researched what kinds of work CMU could be involved with in Pittsburgh regarding re-entry programs for incarcerated individuals.

“I was pleased to learn that the Petey Greene program was already operating here and, thankfully, Taliya was gracious enough to visit us (virtually at the time),” he said.

Garg attended that information session and went on to volunteer with Petey Greene until she graduated two years later. She went twice a week with Alex Tabor, a Ph.D. student in history, to tutor boys on juvenile probation in Allegheny County. Garg served as their main STEM tutor, focusing on topics like basic science and high school level math.

“I am thrilled that Maya was able to find a way to contribute to the program,” said Sokalski. “I think it’s emblematic of the passion students here have for supporting social justice.”

The work could be challenging. When teaching topics such as algebra, Garg found that sometimes her students needed to learn more fundamental skills before they could continue at the level she intended to tutor. She found herself asking, “How do I make sure that we’re covering all of the ground that we need to make sure that your Algebra 2 coursework is going to get done, but at the same time I’m filling in those gaps in your foundation?”

Identifying those gaps can be a challenge since students may not be aware that they lack a certain skill, or they may not feel comfortable sharing that they don’t know something. The Petey Greene Program prepares tutors by teaching them about what it means to be incarcerated and what students’ lives look like outside

of their tutoring sessions. As the students and tutors get to know one another, a relationship of trust begins to form. “Learning from the whole community about what it means to be incarcerated, that sheds some light on how I need to approach certain situations,” Garg said about overcoming tutoring knowledge gaps.

As an undergraduate MSE/BME student, Garg was studying on a pre-med track. She hopes to one day be a medical practitioner in an urban or underserved environment. Her tutoring days helped her gain skills that she will take with her into her career, helping other communities in the field of medicine. “With work like this, you can’t really separate your emotions from

what’s going on, because the whole point is you’re trying to form really human connections with other people.”

Despite the challenges and time commitment, Garg said that tutoring with the program was ultimately rewarding.

“With the Petey Greene Program, I see the direct impact of my work. You see the direct positive effect of the work you’re doing in real time as it’s happening,” she said. Since graduating, she has moved to New York where she continues to volunteer with the Petey Greene Program.

If you are a CMU student interested in getting involved with the Petey Greene Program, please contact Taliya Allen at tallen@peteygreene.org or apply online at peteygreene.org.

“With the Petey Greene Program, I see the direct impact of my work.”

Maya Garg, MSE’22, BME’22

Source: Petey Greene Program | A volunteer tutor works with a student.

ENGINEERING ART

Sophie Paul is among the hundreds of students who graduated from the College of Engineering last spring. In addition to earning a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering, she was one of the first students to also have completed the additional major in Engineering and Arts.

The St. Louis, Missouri native has long been into art. She’s been making pottery for 10 years. So, when a professor in a firstyear sculpture course told her about the additional major, she decided to pursue it.

“I was already pretty creative, and the Engineering and Arts additional major seemed like a great way to fill my general education requirements,” said Paul.

As a materials science and engineering major, she found many ways to incorporate the science with the art. In her capstone course, she created 3D printed pop-up textiles for modular interlocking wearable fashion.

She had to study materials research papers, as well as art blogs, to develop the novel approach she came up with: 3D printing filament onto stretch jersey fabric. The process involved a lot of trial and error. She had to study and test the properties of the filaments to prevent warping and get the fabrics to pop up in just the right way.

“It’s pretty frustrating when it doesn’t work. There’s a lot of trouble-shooting working with materials. But it’s so rewarding when you finally get it right,” said Paul.

Such hands-on experimentation not only deepened her understanding of the kirigami, or self-folding, cut origami, craft she was learning, but the process was also very

Dimensional fabric from 3D printing process.

SOPHIE PAUL’S 3D PRINTED POPUP TEXTILES FOR MODULAR INTERLOCKING WEARABLE FASHION WAS DISPLAYED AT THE ALL FOR LOVE: CMU SENIOR ART 2022 EXHIBIT, WHERE VISITORS WERE INVITED TO “PLEASE TOUCH” THE MODULAR FABRIC CREATIONS.

relevant to learning the chemistry and geometry used in materials science.

Findings from her honors thesis will be submitted at an upcoming human computer interaction conference. She applied kirigami methods of cutting and folding paper to design shutters that use sensors to automatically open and retract efficiently and conserve energy. She completed the research under the direction of Lining Yao in the Morphing Matter Lab.

The intersection of disciplines, innovation, and curiosity is exactly the type of learning and discovery the BXA Intercollege Degree programs sought to create when they were developed in 2018. The BXA programs combine arts curriculum with humanities, science, and computer science. Students, like Paul, whose primary major is in engineering, choose their arts concentration from the College of Fine Arts’ (CFA) Schools of Architecture, Art, Drama, or Music.

Paul says that she relied upon the additional support she got from academic advisors who served as liaisons between CFA and engineering. In addition to her primary advisor in the College of

Engineering, she had a CFA academic advisor to guide her focus in the arts.

“They really helped me with the scheduling challenges. Other than two art history courses, all of my other arts requirements were three-hour long studio courses that were sometimes hard to coordinate with my engineering courses,” explained Paul.

She says the extra effort to pursue the additional major was a good investment that will serve her well when she enters the University of California at Santa Barbara in the fall to pursue a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. in soft materials.

STUDENTS JOIN INTERNATIONAL MATERIALS RESEARCH COMMUNITY

This past summer Matthew Frame and Lukas Glist, undergraduate students in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, had the opportunity to perform cutting-edge research in Sheffield, England as part of the International Research Experiences for Students (IRES).

“The IRES program is a fantastic opportunity for students to engage in important research while gaining a global perspective on advanced materials for sustainability,” said Beth Dickey, principal investigator for the IRES program.

IRES focuses on increasing students’ awareness of the environmental and societal impacts of the materials lifecycle. Each student undertakes an individual research project related to sustainable materials development in the University of Sheffield’s laboratories.

“My research was in functional ceramics, and I worked on cold sintering lanthanum doped strontium titanate for use as a thermoelectric. I worked with a Ph.D. student at the University of Sheffield who was also working on the material, who trained me and guided the research process,” explained Glist, a junior in MSE. “I learned that the research process isn’t linear, and that science can take you down different pathways you didn’t think were related at all.”

Four professors at the University of Sheffield participated in the program, each putting forth a research project for the students to choose from. Frame, a senior who had been working with ceramics at CMU, enjoyed using x-ray characterization techniques to understand new battery cathode materials.

The program runs for ten weeks, enabling students to become a part of the international materials research community. Both students were able to explore England on the weekends. In July, they traveled to London together to participate in the 8th International Materials Science and Smart Materials Conference. Students also had the opportunity to participate in the New Ceramic Technologies for the Move to Net Zero conference.

“Being on a different continent was character building,” said Frame. “I feel like I gained a lot more responsibility and was able to learn more about who I am and who I want to be.”

The program is supported by the National Science Foundation, under Award Number 1854928.

William W. Mullins Undergraduate Award Cathay Shi

Hubert I. Aaronson Undergraduate Award Kelly Xiao

James W. Kirkpatrick and Jean Kirkpatrick Keelan Scholarship Keirstyn Cassidy

Dowd Graduate Student Fellowship Spencer Matonis

William T. Lankford Jr. Memorial Scholarship Chantal Elise Alano

George Washington Prize Tahlia Altgold

Paxton Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation MSE Raghav Garg

RETIREMENT/ ROBERT F. DAVIS

Robert Davis received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University, M.S. from Pennsylvania State University, and his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley. Since 2004, Professor Davis has been the John R. and Claire Bertucci Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Carnegie Mellon.

Professor Davis has pioneered growth and characterization of technologically important widebandgap semiconductors including SiC, GaN, AlN, Ga2O3, which can be used in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), advanced power electronics and solid-state sensing. He has edited or co-edited seven books, authored or coauthored more than 275 chapters in edited proceedings or in books, published more than 450 peer reviewed papers in archival journals, and given more than 200 invited presentations. He also holds 47 patents. Dr. Davis is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and a member of TMS.

As a Principal Advisor to more than 100 Ph.D. and M.S. students, Professor Davis’ legacy goes beyond his research and technological impact. He has impacted the future of materials science through his mentorship of a generation of students with over 50 continuous years of teaching, research, and service in Tier I Universities.

Bill Sanders, Claire Bertucci, Bob Davis, Beth Dickey, and John Bertucci

RETIREMENT/ DAVID E. LAUGHLIN

David Laughlin has been an integral part of the Carnegie Mellon MSE Department for nearly 50 years, inspiring his students and colleagues with his vast knowledge of material thermodynamics, physical metallurgy, and magnetic materials. His classes, Thermodynamics of Materials and Phase Transformations in Materials have become a standard part of our curriculum.

Professor Laughlin earned his B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from Drexel University and his Ph.D. of Metallurgy and Materials Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1974, he moved to Pittsburgh and joined Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. In 1999, he received a courtesy appointment to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and in 2001 was honored as the Alcoa Professor

of Physical Metallurgy. From 1987 to 2016, he served as the principal editor of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Incorporated (AIME)

During his career, Professor Laughlin’s work has been internationally recognized. He is a TMS Fellow and Honorary Member of AIME. The precipitation hardened aluminum alloys he studied are making their way into automobiles, and his advances on magnetism in FePt has made it possible for laptop computers to become smaller but store more information.

On top of these advancements, Dr. Laughlin has obtained 12

patents, edited nine books, wrote one textbook and more than 490 technical publications. He has left his mark in the materials science and engineering community.

David Laughlin celebrates his retirement with his family

SUMMER COURSE INTRODUCES NANOMATERIALS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

At Carnegie Mellon University, high school students have the opportunity to earn college credit while working in an academic setting that mirrors the supportive rigorous environment of the first year of college. Michael Bockstaller, Materials Science and Engineering professor, has been introducing high school sophomores to the fundamentals of materials science and nanotechnology since 2009.

“This program gave me the opportunity to teach a course that I felt was missing from our current schedule of courses.” Bockstaller explained.

The course, Introduction to NanoScience and Technology, provides students with a holistic view of the objectives, opportunities and challenges of the emerging field of nanotechnology and nanomaterials while sensitizing them to its interdisciplinary nature. Bockstaller was always interested in teaching the field of nanotechnology in a more comprehensive manner, as it is an emerging area that is projected to have a profound impact on society.

“Successful engineers benefit from the work of researchers across disciplines. While students may become an expert in Materials Science and Engineering, I want them to understand that discovery happens at the intersection of all branches of science and engineering,” said Bockstaller.

Each year, the class is made up of around 15 students from all over the world. A large portion of which end up pursuing higher education in engineering. Bockstaller realized in the early years of the course that most students had little to none previous exposure to Materials Science and Engineering. Since nanomaterial science and technology can be considered to be a branch of materials research, he also views this course as an opportunity to also introduce students to the field of materials science and engineering.

A version of the course (99-239) is also offered to current CMU students during the summer session.

NEW MSE FACULTY MEMBER COMBATS CLIMATE CRISIS BETWEEN TRIATHLON TRAINING

Rachel Kurchin didn’t have far to relocate when she joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University this fall as an Assistant Research Professor. The computational materials scientist had been a postdoctoral researcher under Venkat Viswanathan in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CMU for the past three years.

“I was super impressed by CMU,” Kurchin explained when describing her search for post-doctoral research opportunities. “I got to expand my horizons through the research Venkat was doing, but it was a natural progression from my prior experience.”

Kurchin’s research uses electronic structure theory, data science, and energy device modeling to fight the climate crisis by helping develop better and/or cheaper materials for use in devices crucial to a carbon-free energy system. During her Ph.D., she worked to understand, from the atomistic to the device level, why some photovoltaic absorbers can perform well even in the presence of a high concentration of point defects. She also developed theories that can guide design of new such materials. While she is a computational researcher now, she

spent the beginning of her Ph.D. in the lab, and leverages those close experimental ties to bridge experiment and simulation using data science.

“We could make devices with new materials and measure the currentvoltage curve in a really cool, automated setup in our lab,” she explains. “By taking a finished solar cell and applying different voltages at different temperatures and with

different amounts of light, we can tell a lot about what’s going on in the device by how much current comes out.”

Computational researchers typically go in the opposite direction – assuming some properties of the device and simulating what the electrical response would be, rather than inferring the properties from the current. To “reverse” this process, Kurchin developed a Python software package capable of assimilating

both simulated and experimental data and estimating the values of important materials parameters.

The findings of Kurchin’s research may result in low-cost photovoltaic materials that are non-toxic and more stable than what is currently available.

As a postdoctoral researcher, she turned her attention from renewable electricity generation to battery storage and other electrochemical devices. Thanks to a new theory she developed, electric vehicle owners maybe able to more efficiently charge their vehicles at a faster rate. She has also continued developing code for a variety of applications including machine learning for atomistic systems, and is excited to bring this research software engineering experience to

mentees in her research group.

This spring Kurchin is teaching the MSE introductory course, Engineering Materials of the Future.

“As an undergraduate student, it’s your whole job to learn. I think that frees students up to be curious and absorb all the new information around them. It’s that energy that I’m eager to be exposed to.”

Along with being an advocate for diversity in STEM, Kurchin is passionate about the importance of managing stress and creating a healthy work-life balance.

“I hope to set a good example to students interested in academia and show that being a faculty member doesn’t have to mean working 14-hour days, 7 days a week,” she expressed. “Sometimes people

create a narrative that if you aren’t living and breathing your research, you can’t be successful, but taking time to clear your head is important.”

From knitting to running Ironman triathlons, Kurchin finds plenty of ways to keep her head clear, but confesses her research still finds a way into her thoughts when she’s cooking dinner or watching TV.

“I think that’s a good sign,” she admits. “It shows that I’m really passionate about my work.”

Rachel Kurchin earned her bachelor’s in Physics from Yale University, her master’s in Materials Science and Metallurgy from Cambridge, and her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT.

“As an undergraduate student, it’s your whole job to learn. I think that frees students up to be curious and absorb all the new information around them. It’s that energy that I’m eager to be exposed to.”

“I learn something new every time I teach a course. Students ask new questions every semester, and they process the information in different ways which opens my eyes to new ways to think about materials.”

KRAUSE LEANS INTO CERAMICS INGENUITY

At the heart of Amanda “Mandie” Krause’s research is her appetite for creativity. The ceramicist joins Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering as an Assistant Professor from the University of Florida.

Ceramics are the future. “They are temperamental, brittle, and hard to process but that’s what makes them fun to work with. I’m able to be creative in my approach,” Krause explained.

The goal of her research is to make brittle materials tougher by controlling their microstructure during processing. To achieve this goal, she characterizes the material at different length-scales, which she correlates to processing parameters. Characterization is really a tool to observe how microstructures can be manipulated by processing. Using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), she characterizes materials at the atomic length scale to classify their grain boundaries, defects in the crystal structure, that control bulk properties, including electrical conductivity. By understanding the grain boundaries at the atomic level, she can correlate their structure to their motion during processing, which will ultimately provide better control of the materials’ microstructure and performance.

Krause is excited to expand on her research with a new characterization technique using 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy made possible by a new piece of equipment coming to the Materials Characterization Facility, the Zeiss Xradia Context micro-CT.

“Considering that the earth is made of ceramics, they are more renewable than metals or polymers,” mentioned Krause. Therefore, her work to make ceramics stronger could impact their ability to replace other less-sustainable materials currently used in batteries, or even on airplanes.

Assistant Professor Krause is also passionate about merging engineering and art. Along with an interest in developing projects for her students that encourage creative problem solving,

Krause has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Grant to expose high school art students to advanced ceramics and enable them to give back to the community.

Art students in participating high schools will be tasked with using materials common in materials science and engineering research to make sculptures. They will learn about processing pure or low impurity materials while showcasing their artistic expression.

“Working with ceramic powders is very different from working with clay,” she explained. “Students will have to use trial and error to see how they can manipulate the material to create the art piece they have in mind.”

In the fall, Krause taught Microstructures and Properties I, a course that synthesizes what students learned in their sophomore year. Krause is excited to work with her students to help them reach an “ah-ha” moment where everything they’ve learned up to this point is tied together in material properties.

“Students are really good at questioning the assumptions materials researchers make, and I think that’s fantastic,” Krause said. “I learn something new every time I teach a course. Students ask new questions every semester, and they process the information in different ways which opens my eyes to new ways to think about materials.”

When she’s not in the lab or the classroom, Krause spends her free time reading, practicing yoga, hiking, and going to concerts.

Amanda Krause earned her bachelor’s and master’s in Materials Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech, and her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Brown University.

WHERE COMPUTER SCIENCE, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE MEET

At the intersection of mechanical engineering, computer science, and materials research, you’ll find Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, who joined Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the fall.

Assistant Professor Taheri-Mousavi develops novel multi-scale numerical and analytical models to design additively manufactured next-generation structural alloys used in extreme environments. As alloys with high-dimensional compositional and processing space are designed for various target mechanical and material properties, she combines her techniques with advanced machine learning to discover the critical material features controlling the structural properties.

“3D printing has revolutionized manufacturing of alloys. It provides new opportunities for alloy and

structural design,” she explained. “You can print jet engines’ turbine blades with intricate cooling channels and vary properties at voxel-size resolution, but their performance isn’t always reliable. Even beyond this, if one exploits the new processing conditions, new classes of alloys with unprecedented properties can emerge.”

She became interested in materials science during her undergraduate studies when she took a solid mechanics course that focused on different ways to enhance the properties of materials. Rather than adding more material to make a structure larger, she saw the value in looking at the materials’ atoms or microstructure and making the material itself stronger.

Today, around 90% of jet engines are made of 3D-printed alloys. As resources for this type of manufacturing become more affordable and

widespread, we see applications in our everyday lives such as the automotive industry.

Although Taheri-Mousavi’s work is simulation based, she values collaboration with experimental scientists to see her simulations come to life. The ability to work with experts across disciplines is one of the reasons Carnegie Mellon University caught her eye.

“This school has researchers excelling in each subset of my research from the Manufacturing Future Institute to the School of Computer Science, there are many great colleagues interested in developing 3D-printed alloys.”

This spring she is teaching Application of Machine Learning for Materials Science and Engineering, part of the Department’s new master’s program, Artificial Intelligence in Engineering - Materials Science and Engineering.

Having studied in three continents at four universities, she hopes that she will bring a diverse, and global perspective to CMU, enabling her to help students recognize different strategies for problem solving and teamwork.

“I enjoy working with young and ambitious people. The synergy between my students and myself helps not only my students learn, but teaches me a thing or two myself.”

During her free time, Taheri-Mousavi enjoys reading, hiking, and doing calligraphy.

Taheri-Mousavi earned her bachelor’s and master’s from Sharif University of Technology in Iran. She earned her Ph.D. from EPFL Switzerland before moving to the United States to become a Postdoctoral Researcher at Brown University, and then MIT.

“I ENJOY WORKING WITH YOUNG AND AMBITIOUS PEOPLE. THE SYNERGY BETWEEN MY STUDENTS AND MYSELF HELPS NOT ONLY MY STUDENTS LEARN, BUT TEACHES ME A THING OR TWO MYSELF.”

FACULTY AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Elizabeth Holm has returned to her alma mater, University of Michigan, to assume the role of Department Chair in Materials Science and Engineering after 10 years at CMU. We will deeply miss Liz, but wish her great success in this new chapter of her career!

Tony Rollett receives the Francqui International Professor Award

The International Francqui Professor Award is an extension of the Francqui Prize, one of the most prestigious awards granted to Belgium researchers. The Francqui Foundation was founded in 1932 to further the development of higher education and scientific research in Belgium.

The award is in recognition of exceptional research contributions that have enhanced the reputation of the college in a global or national context.

Adam Feinberg named David P. Casasent Outstanding Research Award Winner

Chris Bettinger joined DARPA in August 2022 as a program manager in the Biological Technologies Office.

CMU team succeeds in 7th Crystal Structure Prediction (CSP) Blind Test

In 1999, the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center developed the Crystal Structure Prediction (CSP) Blind Test as a way to bring together leading scientists from industry and academia to assess the progress of CSP methods. Participants in the test are given a 2D “stick diagram” of a molecule and have to use computer simulations to predict its crystal structure. The 7th CSP Blind Test comprised two phases. The first phase tested participants’ ability to generate the correct crystal structure and the second phase tested participants’ ability to correctly rank structures from most to least stable at room temperature.

Noa Marom, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Olexandr Isayev, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, led the CMU team that included Marom’s PhD students: NSF Fellow Imanuel Bier (MSE), MolSSI Software Fellow Rithwik Tom (Physics), DOE SCGSR Fellow Dana O’Connor (MSE), and MSE MS students: Yi Yang, Kehan Tang, and Wenda Deng, as well as Isayev’s lab members: Dr. Roman Zubatiuk (Chemistry), Dr. Dylan Anstine (Chemistry), and Chemistry PhD students: Kamal Nayal and Shuhao Zhang.

The team combined quantum mechanical simulations, optimization algorithms, and machine learning to perform CSP. Marom’s structure generation codes were used in conjunction with Isayev’s neural network interatomic potentials. During the test, they developed novel computational methodology for structure generation and for training system-specific machine learned interatomic potentials. These potentials are crucial for the acceleration of geometry optimization and stability evaluation for millions of generated structures. Their codes will be widely available to researchers across the globe advancing crystal structure prediction.

In the first phase, the CMU team successfully generated the known polymorphs of two out of three attempted targets: an organic electronic material (Target XVII) and an agrochemical compound (Target XXXI). Target XVII was particularly challenging because the molecule has flexible side chains that can assume a very large number of conformations. The CMU team generated and evaluated 5 million structures of this target and was one of only three teams to predict the correct structure with an average deviation of less than 0.5 Å from experiment. For Target XXXI, the CMU team generated and evaluated 1.7 million structures. The team correctly predicted the three low-energy polymorphs with an average deviation of less than 0.3 Å from experiment.

In the second phase the CMU team used system specific machine learned potentials to optimize the geometry and rank the relative stability of the structures provided by the CCDC. The relative stability of polymorphs can change depending on temperature. The team calculated thermal corrections to predict the relative stability at room temperature, which helped improve the ranking performance.

Marom said, “I am pleased with our team’s performance in the CSP blind test. It catapulted our method development and code implementation forward. This has been a major improvement compared to our performance in the previous blind test (with a very early version of our software). However, we still have a long way to go towards predicting the structure of more complex crystals, including hetero-molecular crystals (cocrystals, salts, and solvates) and crystals of flexible molecules. We look forward to participating in the next blind test.”

Read the full story about the CSP Blind Test

Robert Heard named Faculty Director of the Materials Science and Engineering Master’s Programs.

SOKALSKI CENTERS ON STUDENT EXPERIENCE

Vincent Sokalski has been with the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University since 2007 when he first joined as a Ph.D. student. Over the fifteen years that followed, he has embraced his evolving role as a student, researcher, scientist, and professor. In September, Sokalski became Teaching Professor of Materials Science & Engineering and now the Director of Student Inclusion & Community which builds on his passions for student inclusion and success.

“I probably would not have said this when first starting out,” Sokalski explained, “but I think that teaching is the most important thing that we do as faculty.”

In 2020, Sokalski taught the MSE introductory course, Engineering Materials of the Future, for the first time. He looks back on teaching through the pandemic and social justice movements as an inflection point for himself.

“I could see the impact world-events were having on my students and I felt a responsibility to preserve as much normalcy of the classroom experience as I could for them.”

Sokalski’s dedication to his students hasn’t gone unnoticed. He was selected as one of the Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellows by the The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation last year. Over the course of a year, fellows learn about inclusive teaching strategies to enhance students’ sense of belonging.

In 2021, Sokalski was also awarded the Philip L. Dowd Fellowship to recognize his educational contributions and to encourage the undertaking of an innovative educational project. With this

MS&T ‘22

funding, Sokalski is developing a course for Ph.D. students called “Teaching Materials Science & Engineering” where they will discuss effective and inclusive pedagogy along with strategies to prepare engaging lectures. Students will use this to teach core MSE topics to the rest of the class as part of their final project. This course will prepare them for their MSE Teaching Internship and future careers.

The Materials Science and Technology (MS&T) technical meeting and exhibition is the long-standing, recognized forum for fostering technical innovation at the intersection of materials science, engineering, and application. According to MS&T, each year the meeting brings together scientists, engineers, students, suppliers, and business leaders to discuss current research and technical applications and to shape the future of materials science and technology.

The event’s unmatched technical program addresses structure, properties, processing, and performance across the materials community. Its exhibition showcases a wide variety of equipment and services to the automotive, aerospace, instrumentation, medical, oilfield, and energy industries.

This year, nearly fifty undergraduate students from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering represented Carnegie Mellon University at the meeting in downtown Pittsburgh. For many, this was their first exposure to a conference.

Students “took the fence” on campus in 2022 to show their appreciation for Sokalski and the entire Materials Science and Engineering Department.

“I was actually terrified by the prospect of teaching when I first started out. My past instructors had a way of exuding confidence that I wasn’t sure I could match. So, yes, I was certainly intimidated to be on the other side of the classroom,” Sokalski recalls with the hopes that his new course can alleviate that anxiety in future educators.

In his classroom, Sokalski strives to continuously refine his teaching without necessarily taking novel approaches. “There are relatively simple things that can be done to improve the students’ experience – most don’t require new educational technology or make the course content any less rigorous. In my opinion, creating the right classroom dynamic is more important than using innovative teaching tools.”

He livens up his classroom with colorful chalk, and demos including his infamous “mug drop” lecture that teaches students about strength and toughness by showing them just what happens when his “favorite” ceramic mug is tossed against the wall.

For Sokalski, it is important to show his students how much he loves what he’s teaching. He believes that being both positive and responsive is key to building a good rapport with his classes. He stands by the idea that there are no stupid questions, nor that it is ever too late to ask for help.

As the Director of Student Inclusion & Community, Sokalski will be even more focused on engaging with students outside of the classroom to blend social and educational activities. For at least three years, MSE students call the department home, and he recognizes how important it is for them to have a sense of belonging.

Sokalski gathered a group of undergraduate students to attend the MS&T Conference in October (pictured below), where they participated in poster presentations and networking opportunities. He has also formed a materials quiz bowl team that is set to compete at the TMS championship in San Diego.

Vincent Sokalski, MSE Director of Student Inclusion & Community, who organized the department’s involvement in MS&T 22 explained, “Students get to see just how many opportunities there are for them in this field because of the vast number of topics covered at a materials science conference.”

Students who had conducted summer research also participated in an undergraduate poster contest to present their findings and hone their communication skills.

Caitlyn Santiago, who placed in both the poster contest and the meeting’s social media contest said, “I’ve always been a

“I’m excited to take on this new role, where my primary job is to help students,” Sokalski expressed. bit afraid of public speaking, but after talking to so many people about my work, I realized that I really loved it and that we as engineers all want to support each other in the things we’re passionate about.”

Poster contest winners from CMU included: Jack Beardshear (Junior) placed first presenting Impact of Itaconic Acid on the Stabilization Reaction of Poly(Acrylonitrile-coItaconic Acid) as Examined Using Solid-State NMR Under Air and Vacuum Conditions.

Caitlyn Santiago (Sophomore) placed second presenting Fabrication of Threedimensional Ceramic Architectures with Micro-scale Resolution and Near Zero Shrinkage Using Aerosol Jet Printing.

Mechanical Engineering student, David Guirgus placed second in the graduate student poster contest presenting Quantification of Melt Pool Variability for L-PBF Additive Manufacturing by High-Speed Imaging.

MSE ALUMNA BRINGS

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE TO BIG PHARMA

Aliya Omer (MSE 2002) is currently the vice president and head of Global Portfolio and Program Strategy for Kite Pharma, a pioneer in CAR T-cell therapy—the reengineering of individuals’ cells to fight cancer. Omer’s team shapes the long-term portfolio and pipeline strategy for the organization and to do so, relies on the diversity of thought and expertise across a wide range of functions spanning from discovery research to marketing. Her team has driven transformational change by launching and embedding an enterprise operating model in which cross functional teams come together to address mission critical questions across the portfolio, acting as a crucible for the organization.

“Cross functional teams operating with a high level of psychological safety and a high sense of belonging are crucial to create an environment that allows many different voices to come together and ensure they are empowered to make the best decisions to drive innovation to serve cancer patients,” said Omer.

Omer’s journey to this role began when she walked on to Carnegie Mellon University’s campus with the intention of pursuing medicine. She studied biology and premedicine and even served as the president of Doctors of Carnegie Society (DoCS), until enrolling in the Intro to Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) course

ALIYA OMER, A 2002 MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING GRADUATE, STRIVES TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS A SEAT AT THE TABLE WHEN SOLVING STRATEGIC PROBLEMS FACING HEALTHCARE.

Aliya Omer, Vice President and Head of Global Portfolio and Program Strategy, Kite Pharma

where she recognized the potential to make an impact on the healthcare industry in a different way. So, come junior year, she shifted her focus to a double major in MSE and biomedical engineering.

While pursuing her studies, she was also a competitive athlete and the first Indian woman to play on CMU’s basketball team. Omer is not unfamiliar with this. As a woman of color in leadership, she is often the first to be in a position, and this realization has shaped how she approaches her leadership and development.

“You have to be curious, vulnerable, and humble in order to learn and to lead,” she explains. “You have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone in order to see a lot, learn a lot, and grow as a leader.”

Omer identifies as a South Asian, Muslim woman who is part of a global family with relatives from across the world including India, Germany, Mexico, and beyond. “A global perspective really opens your mind in terms of moving away from solving problems and moving towards solving paradoxes,” Omer explained.

After her initial entry into the healthcare industry as an R&D scientist at Johnson and Johnson in consumer products, her desire to broaden her perspective and impact led her to pursue an MBA at INSEAD, a leading business school with locations in France and Singapore, where she worked with business leaders from around the globe, further strengthening her commitment to diversity as an invaluable source of learning and enrichment.

Passionate about having a direct impact in oncology, she joined Novartis, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, pivoting her career to the commercial side with great success in a variety of roles.

In 2017, Omer assumed the role of oncology general manager of South Latin America, with responsibility for Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Her experience in Buenos Aires exposed her to different healthcare systems and their existing disparities from a new lens. Additionally, she understood that an imperative part of her success would be to prioritize her own learning about the language and culture that shaped her new role.

As part of a high-performance team building process, she led her colleagues in exploring the seven dimensions of culture, an exercise that highlights the idea that culture is relative and emanates from a set of shared values. This exercise opened up a space to explore the impact of unconscious bias and how to develop trust and understanding in their work together, and enabled the leadership team to successfully drive a turnaround of the business and exceed performance expectations.

In addition, Omer co-chaired the diversity and inclusion efforts for the US business and sat on the Global DEI council for the Oncology business unit with Novartis. Part of measuring this progress was making their goals transparent. Under Omer’s guidance, the organization she was leading at the time was able to double the percentage of female first-line managers and launched

enhanced recruiting efforts for candidates from diverse backgrounds. Her own experiences have inspired her to become a fierce advocate for DEI by challenging assumptions and dismantling stereotypes. She is an active mentor to many and has benefited herself from the generosity of mentors throughout her career.

Omer prioritized the engagement of her DEI values during the transition to her current role and the building of her team. She was also invited to engage in DEI efforts across the organization. Currently, Omer sits on the People and Culture Advisory Council for Gilead, Kite’s parent company, and is an advisor to the women’s employee resource group.

At the end of the day, Omer says that her day-to-day successes all come back to the foundational engineering and leadership principles that CMU taught her.

“What separates a good engineer from a great one is this ability to take data and translate it into insights that create value and that are actionable. The same can be said about a good leader—their ability to proactively seek and digest diverse perspectives across internal and external stakeholders and synthesize those perspectives into the best solution,” she said. “CMU taught me how to do all of that, and it’s helped me in each step of my career.”

“YOU HAVE TO BE CURIOUS, VULNERABLE, AND HUMBLE IN ORDER TO LEARN AND TO LEAD.”

THE SALTMINERS DINNER OFFERS A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY FOR MSE ALUMS TO GET REACQUAINTED AND TO LEARN ABOUT THE LATEST CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH BEING CONDUCTED IN THE DEPARTMENT. THE 2022 EVENT WAS HELD AT THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF PITTSBURGH IN THE HILLMAN LOBBY/PALEO LAB.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING STAFF MEMBERS ON THEIR NEW ROLES:

STAFF NEWS

Jeanna Pekarcik Graduate Student Advisor/ Graduate Admissions Coordinator

Remembering Valerie Thompson Friend and MSE Secretary from 1983 to 2015 passed away on March 1, 2022.

Monica Cooney joined MSE as Communications Manager

Kelly Rockenstein Program Coordinator/ Administrative Assisant

Roxann Eckman retired after 38 years with CMU

Marygrace Antkowski Purchaser/Receiver

Paige Houser Assistant Director of Master Programs/Senior academic advisor

Remembering THADDEUS “TED” MASSALSKI

“Until he was 88 years old, he gave guest lectures in my graduate phase transformations course during which the students enjoyed hearing stories about the early researchers in the field ”

David Laughlin, Aloca Professor of Physical Metallurgy

Thaddeus “Ted” Massalski, emeritus professor of materials science and engineering and physics and former department head of the Mellon Institute, passed away on December 2, 2022.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, he made a daring escape to Switzerland during World War II at age 16 by crossing a minefield at night, which he recently documented in an oral history projectOpens in new window through the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). He went on to enlist in the Polish Second Corps in the British 8th Army. Following the war, he attended the Reggio Politecnico di Torino in Italy, studying chemistry and engineering before moving to the United Kingdom where he earned his Ph.D. and D.Sc. at the University of Birmingham.

After completing work as a postdoctoral fellow at University of Chicago, Massalski began his career at Mellon Institute in 1960 as head of metals physics department. When the Mellon Institute and Carnegie Tech merged in 1967, he became a professor of materials science and engineering and physics, holding dual appointments until his retirement in 1997. With research focused on the stability of alloy phases, imperfections in crystals, phase transformations and amorphous structures, he authored over 200 publications and contributed significantly to key scientific discoveries in the field of metallurgy.

Even following his retirement, Massalski continued to be engaged in the classroom at CMU.

Colleagues within the materials science and engineering community remember Massalski fondly, particularly in regards to his collaborative spirit.

“Early in my career he invited me to write a paper for Progress in Materials Science for which he was a long-time and well-respected editor,” recalls professor Michael McHenry. The paper, described by McHenry as a “career shaping event,” was written along with Laughlin and then student Matthew Willard (current professor at Case Western Reserve University) and is now approaching 2,000 citations. “This is in no small measure due to Ted promoting the work of his colleagues at CMU,” said McHenry.

Massalski received numerous national and international recognitions over the course of his career, including the Commander’s Grand Cross of the Polish Republic from former Poland President Bronislaw Komorowski.

Remembering RICHARD J. FRUEHAN

“I spent many cherished years teaching the Thermodynamics of Materials with Dick at CMU. I learned from him both technically and in life lessons. He was a valued colleague and friend.” Professor Michael McHenry, CMU

MSE

Richard J. Fruehan, emeritus professor of materials science and engineering passed away on July 3, 2022, leaving a profound legacy at Carnegie Mellon University and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Fruehan was an influential teacher and mentor as his passion for metallurgy was reflected in both his research in the Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research (CISR) - which he founded - and his classroom.

Despite extensive contributions to the steel industry including hundreds of published papers, numerous books, patents and awards, executive leadership in industry societies, Fruehan stated upon his retirement from CMU in 2017, “Without a doubt, when I look back at my career…my greatest accomplishments are the students that I have worked with.”

Fruehan earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in metallurgical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London, he began a 12-year career with the United States Steel Corporation where he would develop a probe for oxygen in steel and be presented the Industrial Research 100 Award for one of the best inventions of the year.

In 1980, Fruehan joined the faculty at CMU and for 36 years shared his vast knowledge with hundreds of students. Shortly after joining, Fruehan saw an opportunity to expand academic research for the steel industry through a center where major steel companies would provide financial backing and CMU would conduct long-term research for their benefit. Thus in 1985 the Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research was founded – one of the largest research centers in the United States dedicated to the iron and steelmaking industry.

Throughout his career, Fruehan was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and recognized as an honorary member of the metallurgical societies of the United States, France, China, and Japan. Fruehan’s contributions to Carnegie Mellon were recognized by the University when he received the title of University Professor, the highest designation a faculty member can receive.

THANK YOU MSE SUPPORTERS!

CMU hosted its annual Giving CMU Day on Tuesday, November 29, 2022. Thanks to the support of 64 donors, MSE met and surpassed its goal of 55 donors, resulting in an additional $10,000 challenge gift from Miles Hinderliter (MSE 2002) to the Materials Science and Engineering Student Impact Fund. This fund was created by Hinderliter to support students’ hands-on research, lab upkeep and the department’s educational initiatives, including student participation in activities such as the MS&T (page 24) and African MRS (below) conferences. If you would like to support the MSE Student Impact Fund, visit giving.cmu.edu/mse2023

STUDENTS REPRESENT MSE AT AFRICAN MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY

When department chair Beth Dickey reviewed the applications submitted by Ph.D. candidates to represent CMU at the African Materials Research Society (AMRS) meeting, she was thoroughly impressed by the submissions of three students - Durva Naik, Katelyn Jones, and Katrina Ramirez-Meyers. However, the department had only allocated funds to send two students. Through generous donor support of the MSE Student Impact Fund and the Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) department, all three students were able to attend.

During the five-day meeting, each student had the opportunity to present on a topic of their choice to a subset of conference participants. These presentations were reviewed by panels of judges, and Naik was honored with the ACS Publications best oral presentation award.

AMRS was formed in 2000 in efforts to improve collaboration between

USA and Africa, with the overarching goal of developing materials research capacity in Africa. In December 2022, the conference returned to Senegal, where its inaugural conference was held 20

years earlier. The biennial conference brings together science, research, and government entities to build knowledge, foster relationships, and promote partnerships in Materials Science studies.

Materials Science & Engineering Department

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