Professor Gregory Thompson is an appointed Distinguished Research Professor at University of Alabama and the founding Executive Director for the Alabama Materials Institute. Professor Thompson has published nearly 300 peer-reviewed articles in his research areas of analytical microscopy and phase transformations and has graduated 16 M.S. and 29 Ph.D. students to date. He received his Ph.D. (2003) and M.S. (1998) in Materials Science & Engineering from The Ohio State University, and a B.S. (1996) in Physics from Brigham Young University. Between his M.S. and Ph.D., he worked as a processing coating engineer.

He was awarded UA’s Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2014, the TMS Brimacombe medalist in 2017, and became a Fellow of the International Field Emission Society (atom probe tomography) in 2025.

Nathan Cretegny is a second year PhD student in the Material Science Program, advised by Dr. Eve Mozur. He started his PhD at Colorado School of Mines after receiving a B.S. and M.S. in Material Science and Engineering from Clemson University, where his research focused on protonic ceramic fuel cells. He now works in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory researching hybrid materials and inorganic perovskites for various sensing applications. Outside the lab he enjoys hiking, skiing, and cooking.

Brooke Downing is a second year PhD student at Mines in the Materials Science program, advised by Dr. Geoff Brennecka. She graduated in 2019 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at Washington State University. Her current research explores microstructure evolution of piezoelectric ceramics using aerosol deposition and templated grain growth. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, birding, and skiing.

Victoria Bradford is a Ph.D. student in computational Materials Science, advised by Vladan Stevanovic and Geoff Brennecka. She earned her B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Connecticut in May of 2025. As an undergraduate, she worked on multiple projects with the Air Force Research Laboratory, applying computational methods to explore novel materials, and with the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory on device fabrication projects. She also worked with researchers at the Colorado School of Mines and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on related computational studies. Her research focused on understanding structure-property relationships and their associated uncertainties in ferroelectric materials. Now, she is investigating interface-dependent structural and electronic behavior using first-principles calculations, ultimately providing guidance for experimental efforts in optimizing electrical contacts for these materials.

Yuchen is a third-year mechanical engineering PhD student at Colorado State University. She is a member of the Advanced Computational Materials Engineering lab, advised by Professor Christopher Weinberger. Her research focuses on the thermodynamics and kinetics of Ultra-High Temperature Carbides. In her (non-existent) free time, she is climbing on rocks or trying new recipes.

Olorunfemi Olaleye (Femi) is a first-year PhD student in the Materials Science Program at Colorado School of Mines, researching kaolin for ethanol steam reforming and gas separation. He holds a B.Tech in Glass and Silicate Technology from Ahmadu Bello University. His undergraduate thesis focused on developing glass-ceramics from waste SLS glasses and alumina.

Krishna is a fourth-year PhD student in the Materials Science program at Colorado School of Mines. Under the supervision of Dr. Anna Staerz, his research focuses on the operando Spectro-electrochemical investigation of high-temperature electrochemical devices. He earned his B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from RVR & JC College of Engineering in India. Outside the lab, he enjoys cooking and playing cricket.