research
A growing collection of multi-scale, interdisciplinary research projects on microstructural and defect engineering, and advanced materials for biomedical purposes.
Research Vision
My research centers on mechanism-driven, processing-aware materials design. I seek to understand the physical mechanisms that control material behavior, then use that understanding to deliberately engineer composition, defects, interfaces, microstructure, and processing pathways around the needs of a specific application.
I approach these problems experimentally across length scales, from atomic-scale defects to bulk performance. A central theme in my work is understanding how materials evolve under non-equilibrium processing and demanding service conditions, and how changes at the atomic and microstructural levels ultimately translate into macroscopic behavior. Rather than treating processing, characterization, properties, and application requirements as separate questions, I bring them together to identify what truly limits performance and how that limitation can be overcome.
This philosophy has shaped my work on biodegradable magnesium alloys, where mechanical integrity, degradation, biological response, and manufacturability must be considered simultaneously. It also underpins my work in defect and vacancy engineering, where controlling atomic-scale defect populations provides a route to influence diffusion, phase evolution, and microstructural stability. Building on these foundations, I am interested in extending the same mechanistic framework toward nuclear and irradiation-resistant materials, materials for extreme environments, and sustainable materials design and processing.
To address these questions, I combine advanced characterization, non-equilibrium processing, and data-driven experimental design. I view these as complementary tools for connecting fundamental mechanisms with practical design decisions. Ultimately, my goal is to move from understanding why a material behaves the way it does to determining how to make it perform better, from atoms to applications.
Collaborators & Institutional Affiliations
