The department bid farewell to its graduating students at our annual commencement dinner at the University Club on Wednesday, June 13, 2018. Faculty, staff, and students receiving 2017-2018 departmental awards were also honored.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Awards
Outstanding Research Award
Mitra Taheri
Outstanding Teaching Award
Andrew Magenau
Outstanding Service Award
Antonios Zavaliangos
Outstanding Faculty Innovation Award
Wei-Heng Shih
Outstanding Staff Award
Danielle Kopicko
Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Bryan Byles
Outstanding Graduate Innovation Award
Mohamed Alhabeb
Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award
Evan Quain
Karen Wells
Outstanding Undergraduate Innovation Award
Thomas Heng
Devon Spinelli
This year, a number of Drexel Materials graduates were recognized at the College of Engineering commencement, including PhD graduate Gabriel Burks, who gave the graduate student class remarks, graduating senior Karen Wells, whose research was mentioned in Interim Dean Giuseppe Palmese’s remarks, and graduating senior Gabe Plummer, who achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Additionally, at the University-wide commencement ceremony, graduating senior Amanda Bellafato’s high school teacher, Mr. Justin Kast, received a Harold W. Pote “Behind Every Graduate” Award for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching.
Degree Recipients
Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering
Muhammad Boota
“Redox-active Hybrid Materials for Pseudocapacitive Energy Storage”
Supervising Professor: Yury Gogotsi
Gabriel Burks
“Poly (Vinylidene Fluoride): Crystalline Structure, Morphology, and Conversion to Exotic Carbon”
Supervising Professor: Christopher Li
Bryan Byles
“Tunnel Manganese Oxides for Energy and Water Treatment Applications”
Supervising Professor: Ekaterina Pomerantseva
Nenian Charles
“Towards Rational Design of Functional Fluoride and Oxyfluoride Materials from First Principles”
Supervising Professors: James Rondinelli and Steven May
Daniel Foley
“Damage Tolerance and Mechanics of Interfaces in Nanostructure Metals”
Supervising Professor: Garritt Tucker
Michael Ghidiu
“Ions in MXene: Characterization and Control of Interlayer Cations and their Effects on Structure and Properties of 2D Transitional Metal Carbides”
Supervising Professor: Michel Barsoum
Amanda Pentecost
“Nanodiamond-based Drug Delivery System for the Modulation of Macrophage Behavior”
Supervising Professors: Yury Gogotsi and Kara Spiller
Hao Qi
“Directed Polymer Crystallization at Liquid Interfaces”
Supervising Professor: Christopher Li
Chang Ren
“Interaction of Ions with Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Carbide (MXene) Films”
Supervising Professor: Yury Gogotsi
Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering
Adam Blickley
Jing Chen
Zizhao Chen
Huai-Yu Cheng
Gabriel Gorelick
Brendan Hayes-Oberst
Yuchen Hou
Sam Kulesa
Richard Lu
Teresa Moore
Gabriel Plummer
Qian Qian
Evan Quain
Timothy Reppert
Cooper Voigt
Patrick West
Olivia Wilson
Yizhou Yang
Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering
Amanda Jane Bellafatto
Nicole C Benack
Adam P Blickley (Cum Laude)
Jing Chen
Xingqi Chen (Cum Laude)
Huai-Yu Peter Cheng
Seung Ri Cho
Katherine Chu
Dylan N Eckels
James B Fitzpatrick
Mohammad M Hassan
Thomas Heng
Hao Jing
Sam Z Kulesa (Cum Laude)
Hsin Lu
Teresa C Moore (Cum Laude)
Betsy Hannah Morgan (Cum Laude)
Michael P Pantano (Cum Laude)
Gabriel W Plummer (Summa Cum Laude)
Yepeng Qin (Magna Cum Laude)
Evan D Quain (Magna Cum Laude)
Richard G Reynolds
Olalekan J Solomon
Devon J Spinelli
Robert L Theisen (Cum Laude)
Cooper Augustus Voigt (Cum Laude)
Tony Wang
YiFei Wang
Karen V Wells
Patrick J West (Cum Laude)
Geoffrey Xiao (Summa Cum Laude)