Students

Past Featured Students

JAI SHARMA

What is your background?

I’ve lived in many states – including California, Texas, and Illinois – but consider Colorado my home now. I received a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My undergraduate research involved the synthesis and characterization of metastable and novel copper compounds. I was also a summer intern at Inprentus Precision Optics, where I characterized and maintained diamond tools used in the production of diffraction gratings.

What are you working on at Mines?

My research focuses on high-pressure mechanical and optical dynamics in rare earth orthophosphate ceramics. These materials have attracted interest in the fields of ceramic matrix composite engineering, radiation detection, geoscience, nuclear waste containment, and multifunctional coatings. I focus on using light (x-ray and visible) to characterize the pressure-induced structural transformation of certain rare earth orthophosphates. I was also a Graduate Student Co-Chair of the Colorado Chapter of the American Ceramics Society for 2 years and helped organize the annual CCAC Conference for 3 years.

What are your career aspirations?

After finishing my PhD, I plan to go to industry (particularly in the defense, aerospace, semiconductor, or renewable energy sectors). I would ideally like to work in the Front Range area.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Aim for (or design) a project that both engages your scientific curiosity and is well-funded so that work doesn’t always feel like “work.” Grad school is not easy, but it teaches you many skills necessary for any future job (especially if you’ve not worked in industry before). Be self-aware because grad school shows you who you are. Beyond graduating, the goal is to discover that you can successfully apply yourself to unfamiliar challenges. Looking back on your first year, you will realize that your project was just that – an unfamiliar challenge. Finally, pay attention to your mental health!

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. you enjoy?

I enjoy hiking and kayaking in the mountains as well as drawing, painting, (amateur) gardening, cooking, and eating.

SAVANNAH ULLRICH

What is your background?

I grew up in a small farming community outside of Houston, TX. I moved to Arkansas to obtain my bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Arkansas where my research was focused on nanoparticle synthesis for tribological applications. After college, I worked in heavy metals and other consumer testing with Underwriters Laboratories in Rogers, AR.

What are you working on at Mines?

My work at Mines is focused on the nanomechanical properties of transparent nanocrystalline spinel via nanoindentation at elevated temperatures.

What are your career aspirations?

After I finish my degree, I intend to pursue industrial research and development.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

My best advice for incoming students is find your motivation for completing your degree and remember your major goals when progress becomes challenging.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

I love baking, painting, and hiking the most but enjoy a lot of other hobbies. Leaf peeping is my favorite fall activity.

SARAH BOARDMAN

What is your background?

I grew up in Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire for my undergraduate degree. I majored in materials science and minored in geology. I have previous research experience studying superconducting materials used in large magnet applications.

What are you working on at Mines?

My research project at Mines involves studying additively manufacturing alumina, a common technical ceramic material. As a side project related to my research, I built an additively manufactured Titanium 6-4 Iron Man suit for Adam Savage with Mines faculty and students. I appeared on the Discovery Channel TV show Savage Builds in the episode “Building Iron Man.” Filming and working with Adam Savage, Dr. Craig Brice, and Dr. Jesse Adamczyk was an amazing opportunity.

What are your career aspirations?

I am interested in working in materials R&D and ceramic product development.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Take time to build camaraderie with your colleagues and fellow graduate students on campus. Also, make time for your off-campus hobbies. The Denver metropolitan area is large enough to offer something for everyone.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

Recreating in the great outdoors of Colorado has been a rewarding way to spend my free time through hiking, rock climbing, camping, and skiing. If I ever live near an ocean, I would love to volunteer at a marine mammal rescue center.

YEWON SHIN
What is your background?

I grew up in Ulsan, the largest industrial city in South Korea. Ulsan has the world’s largest automobile assembly plant (Hyundai), shipyard, and third-largest oil refinery. Because of this environment, I learned at an early age how technology can affect our lifestyle and the direction where this world should grow in the future. I was in a science and invention club during high school, and I fell in love with renewable energy during this period. I even participated in the national contest of the smart-grid development proposal and got third place. I often skipped classes as I was too into the solar cell experiments. I am still grateful for my homeroom teacher’s support and understanding about the reason I skipped classes instead of scolding me. My high school experience led me to complete my bachelor’s degree in electronic materials science at Kyungpook National University. During my undergrad, I had opportunity to work as an intern at the Korean Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology in Jinju, South Korea. During this period, the research skill I earned has been super helpful to my grad research. After the internship, I directly came to Mines for a Ph.D. degree.

What are you working on at CSM?

My study focuses on the fundamental research of protonic ceramic fuel cell materials. I am doing the thermodynamic study of electrolyte materials using thermogravimetric analysis. Also, I am studying the kinetic study of electrode materials applying time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The goal of my research is to be a guide for optimizing the materials to further application developments.

What are your career aspirations?

I would like to do a postdoctoral study to strengthen my research skills and be a more professional researcher. My ultimate career goal is to be a scientist leading renewable energy materials in the national lab. I have had chances to live in various countries during my 20s, including the US, so I am okay with whichever country I end up in.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

There will be more failures and trials than your achievements during your grad study. However, don’t judge yourself with the negative moments. The meaning that you are struggling is that you are developing your research in a more specific way. Trust the process. As long as you don’t give up, you move forward even tiny steps each second. I believe that there’s no failed journey in your Ph.D. study. A failure just means you are not at the finish line yet.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

I love baking, although I am not a professional or  good baker! I started baking during my Ph.D. to learn that it’s okay not to be perfect. I was an intense perfectionist at the beginning of my grad study. When I started baking, I forced myself to follow the steps and exact measurements of a recipe. However, baking taught me how to embrace my imperfect self, and now I just say, “Umm… it’s edible”.

BRIAN DAVIS

What is your background?

I’m a mid-career student who came back to Mines for a PhD in materials science. I previously studied mechanical engineering and have a BSc from UC San Diego and an MSc from Mines. In between different degree programs I worked as a quality engineer at the Johnson Space Center, a design engineer in the oilfield industry, and I spent a few years living in Kathmandu and working on sustainable development projects while studying small scale renewable energy.

What are you working on at CSM?

I study contact damage in silicate glasses from a top-down solid mechanics perspective. The proliferation of flat-screen displays has driven an increased demand for better performing glasses. Understanding the mechanics of contact damage is part of the overall knowledge base used for informing the design and manufacture of high-tech glass.

What are your career aspirations?

I would like to be a university faculty member who manages a computer lab that focuses on assisting researchers with numerical analysis. I’ve seen how valuable the staff and management of the Mines EM lab have been in establishing and maintaining high quality microscopy work on campus, and I would like to extend that basic concept of assisted research to the space of finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Individual student experiences are so different, it’s difficult to find advice that will apply to everyone. There are occasional breakthrough moments, but almost everything progresses through some form of incrementalism. Together, the path of research involves both daily time investments and big pushes when it’s necessary. The ability to recognize when to apply each of the two work ethics is a valuable soft skill in its own right. Also, get reference management software, it’s very necessary.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

The glass shop in Hill Hall was started up during my second year and I’m very thankful to the people who did all the initial work to make it a reality (and all the people who continue the work to keep it going). Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time in the glass shop and learned a wonderful skill and hobby that I never would have imagined doing otherwise. In terms of other hobbies, if eating pho counts as a hobby, I do that, I eat a lot of pho.

Elizabeth Palmiotti

What is your background? (Where are you from, where did you get your undergraduate degree, past work experience, etc.)

I am from New York and very proud of it! As a high school student I was exposed to and quickly found a passion for science research as an intern at the Center for Thermal Spray Research at Stony Brook University. There I helped to investigate the effects of thermal barrier coating treatments on porosity. In 2013 I moved to Golden to pursue my BS in Metallurgical & Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. During my first year I was hired as an RPP Intern at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory working on fast catalytic pyrolysis research and continued this work into my senior year. Throughout my undergrad career I also worked for Residence Life as a Resident Advisor (RA) and Hall Director (HD) where I assisted students living on campus and managed a team overseeing the student apartments. During the Fall of my senior year I met my now advisor Dr. Rockett, who I started working with. I transferred to a Photovoltaics Reliability group at NREL and conducted work that culminated into my first publication and conference presentation. After graduating in the Spring of 2017 I officially joined Dr. Rockett’s group as a PhD student.

What are you working on at CSM?

At Mines I am working on thin-film photovoltaic research, more specifically Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS). To help decrease the manufacturing costs of CIGS films I have been developing and studying a process to recrystallize low-temperature, high-rate deposited CIGS films using metal halide treatments. More specifically I am using in-situ and ex-situ characterization techniques to understand the kinetics of such treatments to best optimize device fabrication using this method. As a 2021 IIE-GIRE Fellow I will be using what I have learned about these treatments to make and study recrystallized CIGS devices at the Institute des Matériaux Jean Rouxel at the University of Nantes in France.

What are your career aspirations?

I hope to continue working on photovoltaics research in a national laboratory setting. I would like to bridge systems-level and materials understandings by using materials forensics to study systems-level issues. Down the road I would like to return to the academic setting to teach.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

I would advise students effort to learn about all of the resources on campus by speaking to students and faculty about their equipment. Much of the direction of my research was influenced by a particular technique I learned was available by speaking with a faculty member. Additionally, take advantage of what Colorado has to offer! Taking time off to hike, bike, or ski will really help you avoid burnout and enjoy your time here.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

I enjoy skiing, mountain and road biking, and playing classical piano.

Michael Knight

Featured CCAC Graduate student: Michael Knight

CCAC Featured Student Interview

What is your background?
I grew up in the Sacramento, CA area and was actually a high school drop-out after my mother passed when I was 16. I finished my diploma at continuation school then served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 5.5 years. After my service, I started attending community college while working part-time jobs. During my third year of CC I started a full time position at Quantum Design Inc., calibrating and testing dilution refrigerators in San Diego, CA. Eventually I transferred to UC Santa Barbara and graduated with a BS in Physics while doing undergraduate research in thermoelectric materials under Prof. Ram Seshadri. After graduation and before coming to grad school, I was hired to stay in the group and work for most of 2016 on R/D of phosphor particle hosts for laser-diode based solid-state white lighting.

What are you working on at CSM?
My current research focuses on quantifying segregation and changes in oxidation state of dilute transition metal cation dopants in technical ceramics using magnetic characterization.

What are your career aspirations?

I’m determined to stay in Denver, so I’ll take any job that offers working on challenging materials science problems.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Seek out and embrace challenging things, without struggle there is no growth.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

I grew up racing motocross and now that I’m older I just ride casually, most weekends in the summer you might catch me at Thunder Valley MX right down the street from campus. I spend a lot of time playing in the dirt with my 3 year old son. He’s just starting to ride, making him a 4th generation motocross racer in my family!

Meagan Papac

Featured CCAC Graduate Student: Meagan Papac

CCAC Featured Student Interview

What is your background?
I grew up in rural Idaho and was homeschooled from kindergarten through high school. This educational experience imparted strong skills in independent learning and encouraged my curiosity. I couldn’t decide what to study after high school and took a meandering path through the local community college, ending up with an associate’s degree in English. I finally got serious about higher education when my daughter was 1 year old. (Great timing 😉 I thought I was going to be a civil engineer (silly me!), but I took a materials science intro course in my freshman year and realized I’d finally found something that could hold my attention! I completed my bachelor’s degree at Boise State University and came straight to Mines to continue on to my PhD.

What are you working on at CSM?

My work is focused on the fundamental science behind transport in mixed ionic/electronic conductors. I perform the majority of my research at NREL, where I use pulsed laser deposition to synthesize combinatorial thin films. I am also building characterization capability to study the electrochemical properties of these films under a range of temperatures and gas environments.

What are your career aspirations?

I am passionate about science communication both within the scientific community and between experts and the general public. I love language and strongly believe that effective communication is a critical part of education, decision making, and efficient scientific advancement.
I want to maximize the amount of time I get to spend reading and writing about science, so I’d like to end up somewhere between scientific editor and program manager. For now…I’ll just keep working hard in the lab.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?
Each of us comes in with unique abilities, limits, and approaches. Know what is important to you (for your education/career and also for your personal life) and keep a sharp eye on your goals. It can be easy to assume that everyone around you has it all together when you feel like you are sinking in quicksand. (FYI…they probably don’t.) Keep in mind that you are on your own journey and that there is no single definition of success! Also…don’t be afraid to take a break when you need it. Everyone feels a little burnt out sometimes.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

When I’m not too busy teaching my daughter (now 10) about Kröger-Vink notation or defects in perovskites, I love going on new adventures of all kinds, whether in a book, around the corner, or on the road! Seriously, though…bargain getaways are my specialty.

Kevin Talley

Featured CCAC Graduate Student: Kevin Talley

CCAC Featured Student Interview

What is your background?

I was raised in the booming ex-dairy town of Meridian, Idaho. A cliché suburban landscape, Meridian had few opportunities for excitement, but I was strongly encouraged to discover and sharpen my talents. During this period, I achieved a Black Belt in Taekwondo and an Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts of America. I held various positions in fast food restaurants, a bassist role in a garage punk bad, and graduated from Meridian High School a semester early in 2005.

To see more about Kevin’s history, click here

What are you working on at CSM?

I work on synthesis and characterization of piezoelectric nitride thin films using high-throughput combinatorial methods. This includes primarily hetrostrucutral alloying of aluminum nitride with other trivalent nitride ceramics. This work is accomplished primarily using the tools and equipment at NREL.

What are your career aspirations?

I desire to take my thin-films processing and characterization skills to a global semi-conductor company where I can apply them to new films development. I recently participated in a internship with Applied Materials in Silicon Valley were I was able to practice and hone these skills. I also have a passion for data driven problem solving, and am interested in pursuing an alternative path in Data Science.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Be open to learning new fields, techniques, and perspectives. Don’t focus on what you want to do in your career, but rather what you can do next to learn something you didn’t know before. Always be looking for areas to apply your creativity and problem solving skills.

What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

I like to turn potential energy into kinetic energy by riding the gradient of the gravity field. In other words, I like to bomb the trails on my mountain bike, kayak raging whitewater, and blast through powder fields on my skis.

When is your expected graduation?

I plan to graduate in December of 2019.

Read more about Kevin here.

John Mangum & George Burton

Featured CCAC Graduate Students: John Mangum/George Burton

CCAC Featured Student Interview Questions

JOHN MANGUM

What is your background? (Where are you from, where did you get your undergraduate degree, past work experience, etc.)

 I came to Colorado from North Carolina, where I spent the first twenty-two years of my life. My undergrad degree was in materials science at NC State University. There I did a little bit of research looking at the diffusion of different elemental species in piezoelectric devices. This is where my passion for materials characterization began!

 What are you working on at CSM?

 Here at Mines, my research involves using a bunch of different characterization methods to understand the crystallization behavior of amorphous titanium oxide thin films. I find this work extremely interesting because it is a very challenging and fundamental materials science problem. Probably the coolest thing I get to do is actually watch my materials crystallize in real time at really small size scales with in-situ TEM. Such direct observations of materials processes like these are really hard to beat, in my opinion!

 What are your career aspirations?

 I would love to continue my research focus in nanoscale characterization, especially in-situ TEM. There are just so many possibilities in terms of exciting experiments still to be done. Eventually, however, I would like to end up in a teaching position somewhere that I can teach materials science, specifically introductory and characterization courses.

 Do you have any advice for incoming students?

 There is always something to be learned from everything you do in grad school, especially the failures (also.. be prepared for many many failures)! It might sound mega cliché, but having this mentality will keep you both sane and motivated through it all.

 What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

Aside from research, I keep myself happy by cooking/creating many different types of foods and drinks, as well as rock climbing and generally being outdoors. These still let me use my science-oriented and problem-solving side outside the lab, but not have to think about work. I definitely recommend finding something you enjoy beyond research to fill your free time (and side note: make sure you set aside enough free time for yourself – don’t be working too hard now!).

Click here for John’s CV

GEORGE BURTON

What is your background? (Where are you from, where did you get your undergraduate degree, past work experience, etc.)

I grew up in Highland, MD, a small town near Washington, DC. I received my B.S. in Physics from Georgetown University and spent about one year before graduate school working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. I was lucky to have a research project early on in undergrad making organic nanoparticles with photovoltaic applications. With a passion for research and renewables, I knew the graduate school, particularly CSM would be the perfect place to continue pursuing my goals.

 What are you working on at CSM?

Initially, I worked on a large collaborative project with NREL, looking at single crystal CdTe photovoltaics. Currently, I am working on structure-property relationships of grain boundaries in fuel cell materials with correlative atom probe tomography and electron microscopy. The generous CoorsTek Fellowship has allowed me to pursue this research. During the course of my graduate career, I have been very fortunate to travel to a number of conferences to present my research, including two international ones–APT&M in Gyeongju, South Korea, and IMC in Sydney, Australia.

 What are your career aspirations?

I would like to work at a national lab as a research scientist working in the field of microscopy.

 Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Take breaks and have some fun! I have found that I am more productive when I take the time to travel to the mountains.

 What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?

I love playing tennis (I was on the Mines club tennis team for three years), skiing especially in the backcountry, and hiking/backpacking.

Click here for George’s CV

Michael Walden

Featured CCAC Graduate Student:
Michael Walden


What is your background?
I was born in St. Louis, MO and grew up close enough to always be a Cardinals fan. My undergraduate degree is in Ceramics Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology, with a minor in physics. I’ve worked at a tax preparation firm, at a lead and silver mine, and at GE Aviation in Dayton, OH.
What are you working on at CSM?
I am currently pursuing a PhD in Materials Science at Mines, working with density functional theory (DFT) to calculate the electrical properties of various materials. My research explores bandgaps in the Bi(Fe,Cr)O3 system, which is a multiferroic material that could be used as a topological insulator or the basis for fault-tolerant quantum computing, among other applications. I’m also active in the undergraduate materials science organizations at Mines, like the Material Advantage and Keramos chapters. The latter is fairly new, and helping out there gives me a chance to maintain some grounded experience in traditional ceramics work.
What are your career aspirations?
Immediately following the completion of my PhD, I plan on pursuing a postdoctoral research position working with quantum computing. I’d like to work for IBM either in New York or in Zurich for 10-15 years, before ultimately returning to academia at a university with ceramics-focused undergraduate and graduate programs.
What are some non-academic activities, hobbies, etc. that you enjoy?
One look at my office will tell you I like reading books. The fiction I read is predominately Neal Stephenson or Isaac Asimov, but I’m also working my way through the older classics (currently Common Sense, by Paine). Obviously it’s hard to recreate inside all day in Colorado, so I do enjoy hiking and biking in the mountains around Golden.
Do you have any advice for incoming students?
The best piece of advice I have received and used at Mines is to increase the breadth of my friends circle in terms of research fields. I feel like there’s sometimes a tendency to become too focused on one area of materials, and then for instance the photovoltaic people only talk to other photovoltaic people, or the computational people only talk to other computational people. Fortunately I think Mines and the Materials Science program specifically have done a lot to help bring those groups together. Having friends in Chemistry and Biological Engineering, in Physics, in Materials Science, in Mechanical Engineering, and so forth has been an enormous help to me, from studying for the qualifying exam to directing the course of my research.

DEBORA R. BARCELLOS DE OLIVEIRA

Expected Graduation
Summer 2018
PhD ~ Materials Science

What is your background?

I was born in São Paulo, Brazil and lived most of my childhood with my mom, dad, sis, our pinscher Dino and our great dane Teddy in a country house, in a tiny town called Jarinú. I got my B.E. degree in Chemical Engineering at Faculdades Oswaldo Cruz in São Paulo. During undergrad I did two years of undergrad research in titanium oxide catalysts for degradation of phenol, funded by FAPESP, one of the most prestigious research funding agencies in Brazil. I worked for two years as an intern at BASF decorative paint division, one year in the R&D and the second year in Process Engineering. I later worked at PwC in consulting for engineering projects. I moved to the USA in 2012 and started my PhD at Mines in August 2014.

What are you working on at CSM?

I chose to come to Mines, because Prof. O’Hayre gave me the opportunity to work on the type of research that I am very passionate about: renewable energy.

My PhD project is about applying materials science knowledge to design materials for hydrogen production using solar thermal energy to split water. What I like the most about my research is that I am one of the few students that has had the chance to not only synthesize and characterize the new materials, but also to test them for the real application. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have visited and worked at Sandia National Lab in Livermore and Albuquerque during my PhD. It was a life experience for me to visit the National Thermal Test Facility where the Sandia Solar tower is located. I am also very grateful for presenting at two conferences, Solid State Ionics in Keystone, CO and ECI Nonstoichiometic Compounds in Santa Fe, NM, as well as attending the renewable energy summer school in Erice, Italy.

What are your career aspirations?

I don’t know what I will do when I grow up, but I’ve always enjoyed working in the industry…

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Dedication and persistence are the keys for having success in grad school, however you should try to take a break sometimes. Let grad school be the best years of your life.

What are some non-academic activities that you enjoy?

I enjoy hiking with my Jack Russel mix Daisy and biking with my husband. I have a lot of fun baking artisan bread, cakes and pastries while my husband brews beer. Back in Brazil I also enjoyed accompanying my dad to the flying field to see him flying his model planes. When I have more time, I would like to learn how to fly my own model planes.

Featured CCAC Graduate Student: Shannon Rogers

Shannon Rogers was recently featured on the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation’s (GCiF) Linkeden. Read the interview below or visit the Linkdin page.

Meet Shannon Rogers! Shannon is a Ph.D. student in materials science at the Colorado School of Mines. She is also a part of The American Ceramic Society‘s President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA).

Let’s bring Shannon into focus.

🔎  What inspires you to do the work that you do?

Materials science and ceramics in particular have so many variables when it comes to processing and applications. I love the complexity and problem solving when no two materials are exactly the same, and one material can be engineered to serve multiple applications.

🔎 What is one way materials science impacts our everyday life?

Where to even start? Materials science is a part of nearly everything we touch day to day!

🔎 How can materials science change the world?

Most of the world’s problems are material problems. Technology and computing is limited by the materials that make up their components, so we need to keep pushing the boundaries of what materials can do!

🔎 What is your favorite fun fact about materials science? 

The tetrakaidekahedron is the most “space” saving single 3D structure, discovered by Kelvin, and ceramic particles form this shape (roughly) during the sintering process. It’s also just fun to say! 

Keramos Student club Glass pieces ~ For Sale

Come see the display case in the lobby of Hill Hall

For more information email:
GlassShop@mines.edu

 

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