The Drexel 40 Under 40 list for 2020 includes three Drexel Materials alumni. With their recognition, Robert Devlin (MS ’13, advisor Steven May), Philipp Hunger (PhD ’12, advisor Ulrike Wegst), and Maria Lukatskaya (PhD ’15, advisor Yury Gogotsi) bring the total number of department recipients to nine since the distinction was first awarded in 2013.
Robert is co-founder and chief scientist at Metalenz, a venture-funded company commercializing flat optical technologies which he helped advance while obtaining his MS at Drexel and his PhD at Harvard, including the first demonstration of metasurface lenses that could make images using visible light. Describing how Drexel helped him achieve his goals, he explains, "Drexel gave me a lot of practical hands-on experience through the co-op program. One co-op was completed in College of Engineering Professor Steve May's group, where I had a chance to get first-hand experience in investigating complex research questions while learning from the graduate students around me. All of this real experience put me in a great position to succeed as a doctoral student of physics at Harvard and ultimately helped me in forming Metalenz."
Philipp serves as general manager and global R&D developer for Vesuvius Research in Pittsburgh, PA, having advanced from research engineer to these roles within five years through a combination of dedicated people leadership and scientific excellence. He currently leads their global research laboratory and regional development teams from all business units within the company. Of his Drexel experience, Philipp observes, "Two key skills I learned through the Drexel curriculum were how to follow good scientific conduct to obtain scientifically sound results, and how to present my findings to an audience not necessarily familiar with the matter. Both were essential in propelling me to where I am today."
In December 2019, Maria was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zürich, one of the top-ranked technical institutes in the world. Her research is focused in the field of electrochemical energy storage and conversion, targeting challenges related to the development of new solutions to satisfy the growing demand for energy. Maria was also the recipient of Drexel University's Outstanding Dissertation Award the year she graduated. She notes, "My first interaction with electrochemistry started during my undergrad years at Moscow State University but I was mostly focused on the fundamental science. It was during my PhD at Drexel under the mentorship of Distinguished University and Bach Professor Yury Gogotsi that I began to connect fundamentals with an applied research by focusing on electrochemical energy storage in 2D carbides called MXenes. I found that these materials could charge extremely fast and endure tens of thousands of charge-discharge cycles. My Drexel experience profoundly shaped me as a scientist and helped to formulate my vision. As a PhD student, I attended numerous scientific conferences and had a unique opportunity to learn from the best researchers in the field."