The Department of Materials Science and Engineering gathered together to celebrate the achievements of the class of 2012 at a commencement dinner held by the department in their honor on Thursday, June 14, 2012 in the University Club in advance of Friday’s commencement ceremonies. Select faculty, staff, and students were awarded departmental honors for their work over the 2011-2012 academic year.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards
Outstanding Research Award
James Rondinelli
Outstanding Teaching Award
Christopher Weyant
Outstanding Service Award
Caroline Schauer
Outstanding Staff Award
Sarit Kunz
Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Philipp Hunger (advisor: Ulrike Wegst)
Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award
Travis Longenbach (advisor: Yury Gogotsi)
Doctor of Philosophy Degrees
Jennifer Susan Atchison
“Electrospinning Fluorescent Hybrid Polyelectrolyte Ultra-fine Fibers”
Supervising Professor: Caroline Schauer
Current Position: Laboratory Manager, Energy Materials Group; Leibniz Institute for New Materials, gGmbH; Saarbrücken, Germany
Anthony Fast
"Developing Higher-Order Materials Knowledge Systems"
Supervising Professor: Surya Kalidindi
Current Position: Post-doc; University of California Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara, CA
Matthew Hood
“Correlating the Structure and Properties of Highly Plastic Segmented Polyurethane Nanocomposites Containing Low Silicon Dioxide Filler Weight Fractions”
Supervising Professor: Christopher Li
Current Position: Post-doc; Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany
Philipp Hunger
“Structure-Property-Processing Correlations in Freeze-Cast Hybrid Scaffolds”
Supervising Professor: Ulrike Wegst
Current Position: Research Associate, Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover NH
Gerard Klinzing
"Aspects into the structural integrity of pharmaceutical bilayer tablets"
Supervising Professor: Antonios Zavaliangos
Current Position: Sr. Scientist in Preclinical Development-Formulation Sciences; Merck, & Co., Inc.; West Point, PA
Amanda Levinson
“The Role of Deformation Twinning on Strain Hardening and Recrystallization in Magnesium Alloy AZ31”
Supervising Professor: Surya Kalidindi
Current Position: Post-doc, Naval Research Labs, Washington, D.C.
Alexander James Moseson
“Design and Implementation of Alkali Activated Cement for Sustainable Development”
Supervising Professor: Michel W. Barsoum
Current Position: Assistant Teaching Professor; Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics; Drexel University; Philadelphia, PA
Received Ph.D. in MEM while supervised by Materials faculty
Sumona Sarkar
“Synthesis and Characterization of a Chondroitin Sulfate Based Hybrid Bio/Synthetic Biomimetric Aggrecan Macromolecule”
Supervising Professor: Michele Marcolongo
Current Position: NAE Fellow; National Institute of Standards and Technology; Gaithersburg, MD
Received Ph.D. in Biomed while supervised by Materials faculty
Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering
- Christopher Michael Barr (BS/MS)
- Michael Thomas Coster (BS/MS)
- Sean Michael Dowd
- John J. Biel-Goebel
- Naomi A. Hampson
- Christopher J. Hawley
- Stephanie Howell Johnson
- William R. O’Connor
- Daniel Satko
- Sean Michael Stabler
- Laura Toth (BS/MS)
Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering
- Christopher Michael Barr (Cum Laude)
- Grady W. Bentzel
- Michael Thomas Coster (Cum Laude)
- Spencer L. Dustin
- Joseph Con-Chi Hsieh
- Venkat Rajan Iyer
- Kristoffer J. Jones
- Drew A. Konrady
- Max E. Levy
- Sherif Madkour
- John M. O’Driscoll
- Daniel Douglas Stewart
Department Head and Professor Antonios Zavaliangos (right) stands with the undergraduate and graduate students of the Class of 2012 at the commencement dinner.