Members

C. Cem Taşan

Thomas B. King Associate Professor of Metallurgy B.Sc. M.Sc. METU/Turkey, 2005 Ph.D. Eindhoven University of Technology/Netherlands, 2010 Postdoc, Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung/Germany, 2010-2012 Group leader, Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung/Germany, 2012-2016

Cem started his academic journey in Ankara, in the beautiful campus of METU, moved to rainy Eindhoven for a Ph.D. degree on micro-mechanics of damage, and to classy Dusseldorf for more fun in alloy design. These days he is training to be a professional chess player, while spending his free time at MIT supervising a bunch of amazing researchers.

Anna Bloom

Administrative Assistant

Marine Bender

Financial Coordinator

Onur Güvenç

Postdoctoral Associate
B.Sc. METU/Turkey, 2002
M.Sc. PhD RWTH-Aachen/Germany, 2019

Onur is working on new alloys and processing routes for easier reuse, reform and remanufacture extending material’s lifecycle. In his spare time, he tries to figure out the best viewing order for Star Wars.

Michela Geri

Postdoctoral Associate
B.Sc. M.Sc. Energy Engineering, University di Bologna/Italy, 2010
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, MIT/USA, 2019

Michela is working on chemo-mechanics of solid state batteries and hydrogen embrittlement in alloys. She loves cooking (and eating), drinking tea and watching classic movies.

Prafull Pandey

Postdoctoral Associate
B.Tech. NIT Raipur/India, 2010
M.E., Ph.D. IISc Bangalore/India, 2019

Prafull works on the design of new superplastic-nano-phase toughened steels and resettable high entropy alloys. He likes running (long distance) and trekking.

Kyung-Shik Kim

Postdoctoral Associate
B.Sc. Korea University/South Korea, 2016
Ph.D. Pohang University of Science and Technology/South Korea, 2021

Kyung-Shik works on defining hydrogen behavior in metals. He enjoys listening to music, reading, and jogging.

Felicity Worsnop

Postdoctoral Associate
B.A. M.Sci. Natural Sciences, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, 2016
Ph.D. Imperial College London, 2021

Felicity focuses on the micromechanics behind damage mechanisms in different alloys. She also plays with hydrogen and lasers (although not at the same time). She likes to build stuff, eat stuff and run around interesting places.

Julian Rackwitz

Graduate Student
B.Sc. M.Sc. in Engineering Science, Technical University of Berlin/Germany, 2020

Julian works on novel approaches to characterize the damping and fatigue properties of alloys. His goal is to design a high-strength high-damping steel. He centers his day around coffee and loves exploring different cultures.

Megan Cooper

Graduate Student
B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, MIT/USA, 2022

Megan is investigating damage and plasticity mechanisms of aerospace alloys at extreme temperatures. She loves traveling, video games, crafting, and growing plants.

Mingwei Xu

Graduate Student
B.Sc. in Engineering Science, Case Western Reserve University/USA, 2022

Mingwei works on hybrid additive manufacturing. He spends his spare time cooking, jogging, and playing video games. Fun fact: he is left-handed, but he uses his right hand for writing.

Parth Khandelwal

Graduate Student
B.Tech. in Materials Science, IIT Kharagput/India, 2021

Parth is focusing on designing better hydrogen impermeable stainless steel and high entropy alloys. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, meditation, and travel for new experiences.

Casper Mornout

Visiting Student
B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, 2020

Casper has a background in experimental-numerical micromechanics and currently works on modeling delamination of steels. His passions include reading (and writing) fantasy books, playing board and video games, playing the piano and traveling around the world to ride rollercoasters.

Rebecca Lizarde

UROP

Rebecca is a third year undergraduate majoring in Materials Science & Engineering with a double major in Urban Planning. Her research focuses on the exploration of hot-rolling steel sheet metal to devise an energy efficient method of recycling metals. In her free time, she likes to bike around Boston and listen to new musicians.

Dennis Gastel

UROP

Dennis is majoring in Material Science and is working on applications and commercialization of new recycling techniques. Outside of lab he plays on the football team and enjoys skiing and surfing.

Kirmina Monir

UROP

Kirmina is a third year undergraduate majoring in Materials Science and Engineering and minoring in Philosophy. Her research focuses on evaluating surface roughness and its applications to the oligodynamic effect in metals. She enjoys spending time making things in the forge as well as crocheting.

Previous Members

Graduate Students

Shaolou Wei

Sc.D. Materials Science and Engineering, 2022

Thesis: “Microstructural evolution and phase transformations for advanced complex concentrated alloys”

Moved to: MSE, Max Plank Institute/Germany (post-doc),

Jiyun Kang

Sc.D. in Material Science and Engineering, 2022

Thesis: “Microscopic Strain Localization and Damage in Multi-Phase Alloys”

Moved to: ME/Stanford (post-doc)

Haoxue Yan

Sc.D. in Material Science and Engineering, 2022

Thesis: “Beyond Embrittlement: In Situ Explorations of Hydrogen Effects Near Boundaries”

Moved to: MSE/Stanford (post-doc)

Menglei Jiang

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, 2021

Thesis: “High-strength transformation-induced plasticity steels with reverted interlath austenite”

Moved to: Questek (materials design engineer)

Gianluca Roscioli

Sc.D. in Material Science and Engineering, 2021

Thesis: “Failure of Martensitic Sharp Edges: A Micro-Mechanical Exploration for Design Guidelines”

Moved to: RazorSharp (CEO)

Jackie Cho

Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering, 2021

Thesis: “Design of Superelastic Secondary Phase Toughened Alloys”

Tim Fountain

M.S. in Material Science and Engineering, 2021

Thesis: “The Effect of Co on the Response of Fe-Mn Alloys”

Moved to: US Navy

Maria Ronchi

M.S. in Material Science and Engineering, 2021

Thesis: “Hydrogen-Induced Transformations in Metastable High Entropy Alloys”

Moved to: Form Energy, Inc. (R&D scientist)

Benjamin Cameron

Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, 2021

Thesis: “Expanding the limits of in-situ mechanical tests using data analytics and continuum mechanics”

Moved to: ME/University of Southampton/UK (lecturer)

Dylan Hall

MEng. MIT/Imperial College Joint Program, 2020

Thesis: “The effect of surface condition on the susceptibility of Ti-6Al-4V to aqueous hydrogen embrittlement”

Current position: Alloyed/UK (materials engineer)

Matej Repka

MEng. MIT/Imperial College Joint Program, 2020

Thesis: “Cutting edge research – corrosion effect on shaving blade degradation”

Moved to: Framatome Controls/Slovkia (nuclear instrumentation design engineer)

Rebecca Wang

MEng. MIT/Oxford Joint Program, 2018

Thesis: “Pop-in and op-out behaviour of superelastic TiNi nanoprecipitates”

Moved to: Jane Street/UK (business development specialist)

Postdoctoral Scholars

Hyunseok Oh

Topic: Alloy design and short range order effects

Moved to: MSE/University of Wisconsin Madison (assistant professor)

Jinwoo Kim

Topic: Microstructural change and mechanical behavior of materials in hydrogen environment

Moved to: KIST/South Korea (senior research scientist)

Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi

Topic: Hydrogen embrittlement, MD simulations, gradient structures

Moved to: MSE/Carnegie Mellon University (assistant professor)

Atieh Moridi

Topic: Surface engineering, Additive manufacturing, Carbon nanomaterials.

Moved to: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering/Cornell University (assistant professor)

Emeric Plancher

Topic: EBSD, ECCI, DIC, Crystal plasticity, multi-field mapping, in-situ micro-mechanical testing.

Moved to: Constellium C-TEC/France (R&D engineer)

Visiting Scholars

Visiting Scientists

Isao Arai

Visiting Scientist
BSc. Tokyo Institute of Technology/Japan, 2007
MSc. University of Tokyo/Japan, 2009

Daixiu Wei

Visiting Researcher
Assistant professor, Tohoku University/Japan, 2016
PhD. Tohoku University/Japan, 2016 Topic: Cobalt alloys for biomedical applications.

Zhiyuan Liang

Visiting Researcher
Hong Kong University
PhD. The University of Hong Kong/China, 2016
Topic: Deformation mechanisms in advanced high strength steels, small-scale mechanics.

Zhiyong Liu

Visiting Researcher
Associate Professor, USTB/China, 2012
Topic: Corrosion initiation, nano scale corrosion-deformation co-play, EBSD, ECCI, TEM, APT.

Meimei Wang

Visiting Researcher
Max Plank Institute MPIE
PhD. Max-Planck Institut fur Eisenforschung/Germany, 2016
Topic: Metastable steel design, mechanically-induced martensitic transformation, calphad based modelling, EBSD, TEM.

Jiali Zhang

Visiting Researcher
Max Plank Institute MPIE
PhD. Max-Planck Institut fur Eisenforschung/Germany, 2016
Topic: Self-healing alloy design, cracks microstructure interactions, recrystallization, ECCI, EBSD, TEM.

Visiting Graduate Students

Gaoming Zhu

Visiting Graduate Student Shanghai Jiao Tong University/China B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology/ China, 2016

Decheng Kong

Visiting Graduate Student
University of Science and Technology Beijing/China
B.S. and M.S., University of Science and Technology Beijing/China 2017

Ikuho Nakahata

Visiting Graduate Student
Tokyo Institute of Technology/Japan
BE. Tokyo Institute of Technology/Japan 2018

Federico Lucchini

Visiting Graduate Student
Politecnico di Milano/Italy
BSc. Politecnico di Milano/Italy
Topic: SLM multi-material graded samples.

Riccardo Rossi

Politecnico di Milano/Italy
BSc. Politecnico di Milano/Italy
Topic: SLM multi-material graded samples.

Feng He

Visiting Graduate Student
City University of Hong Kong
BSc, MSc, Northwestern Polytechnical University/China, 2016
Topic: High entropy alloys, phase transformation, TEM.

Shao-Shi Rui

Visiting Graduate Student
BSc. University of Science and Technology Beijing/China, 2014
Topic: EBSD misorientation mapping, crystal plasticity characterization, metallic failure analysis, fatigue and creep.

Ke Qu

Visiting Graduate Student
Lanzhou University/China
BSc. Lanzhou University/China, 2013
Topic: Nanomanipulation and nanofabrication, nanowelding, in-situ SEM/TEM.

Tomoki Mizoguchi

Visiting Graduate Student
Kyushu University/Japan
BSc. Kyushu University/Japan, 2016
Topic: Fatigue crack propagation, In-situ SEM, Hydrogen embrittlement, EBSD, FIB.

Teachers

Stacy-Michelle Reid (Weybrant)

Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program at the MIT MRSEC
BSE Arizona State University, Construction, 1999
MEd Northeastern University, Boston, MA 2010
Chemistry & Environmental Science Teacher, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Boston MA
Topic: Materials testing curriculum for high school students.