Group
Research Scientists
Dr. Xiao Zhang
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests: Computational materials discovery and method development
Post-Doctoral Researchers
Dr. Shiva Poudel
Ph.D. Computational Condensed Matter Physics & Material Science, University of Arkansas
Research Interests: Understanding the physical properties in 2D and nitride ferroelectrics
Favorite Things to Do: Play outdoor sports like soccer, cricket, and hiking
Dr. Shinjan Mandal
Ph.D. Physics, Indian Institute of Science
Research Interests: Phonons, electron-phonon interactions, and method development
Graduate Students
Emily Oliphant
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Rackham Merit Fellow
Ph.D. Candidate Materials Science & Engineering and Scientific Computing, Co-advised by Wenhao Sun, MSE
B.S. Physics, Idaho State University
Research Interests: Developing fundamental intuition and prediction for material properties, high mobility alloys, high-throughput materials informatics
Favorite Artists: Sia, Sleeping at Last, The Score, and P!nk
Amanda Wang
NDSEG Graduate Fellow
Rackham Merit Fellow
Ph.D. Candidate Materials Science & Engineering and Scientific Computing
B.S. Materials Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley
Research Interests: Calculating mobility of wide bandgap materials, method development for calculating hot electron dynamics
Favorite Snack: Chocolate
Mahlet Molla
Rackham Merit Fellow
Ph.D. Candidate Materials Science & Engineering, Certificate in Scientific Computing
B.S. Chemical Physics, Rice University
Research Interests: Origin of ferroelectricity in wurtzite ferroelectrics, ultra-thin ferroelectrics, nonlinear optical properties of III-V nitride semiconductors
Favorite Fruit: Strawberries
Yujie Liu
MICDE Fellow
Ph.D. Candidate Materials Science & Engineering and Scientific Computing
B.S. Applied Physics, University of Science and Technology of China
Research Interests: Computational materials design, computational physics, excitations, photocatalysis in many kinds of materials combined with experiment
Favorite Hobbies: Basketball (avid Lakers fan), violin, singing, and chatting with friends
Yuxuan Wang
Ph.D. Candidate Materials Science & Engineering, Co-advised by Ferdinand Poudeu, MSE
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University
Research Interests: Designing materials for renewable energy using earth-abundant elements, predicting material properties and synthesizability, materials upcycling
Favorite Things to Do: Powerlifting, reading, volunteering
Kelotchi Figueroa
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Ph.D. Student Materials Science & Engineering, Co-advised by Parag Deotare, ECE
B.S. Physics Applied to Electronics, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao
Research Interests: Optoelectronics
Favorite Things to Do: Baking and Volleyball
Alp Kurbay
Ph.D. Student Materials Science & Engineering
B.S. Engineering Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests: Ultrawide bandgap semiconductors, material design and discovery
Favorite Things to Do: Watching Formula 1, Chess, Table Tennis, Mountain Biking
Group Alumni
Post-doctoral scholars
Dr. Michael Waters
Project: Optical Properties of Ag Metal Nanoparticles
Current Position: Rondinelli Group, Northwestern University
Dr. Suvadip Das
Project: Electronic and Optical Properties of Two-Dimensional α‑PbO
Current Position: Mazin Group, George Mason University
PhD Students
Dr. Kyle Bushick, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering and Scientific Computing, 2023
Thesis: Development and Application of First-Principles Methods for Phonon-Assisted Quantum Processes
U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Dr. Nick Pant, Ph.D. Applied Physics and Scientific Computing, 2023
Thesis: From Atoms to Devices: Performance Bottlenecks of Nitride Semiconductors using Multi-Scale Quantum Methods
Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholar
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Giustino Group, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Woncheol Lee, Ph.D. Electrical & Computer Engineering, 2023, Co-advised by Mackillo Kira, ECE
Thesis: Electronic, Optical, and Excitonic Properties of Atomically Thin Semiconductors
Kwanjeong Educational Foundation Scholar
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Van de Walle Group, University of Santa Barbara
Dr. Sieun Chae, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2022
Barbour Centennial Scholar & Rackham International Student Fellow
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University.
Dr. Zihao Deng, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2022
Current Position: Software Engineer at TuSimple
Dr. Nocona Sanders, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2021
Thesis: First-Principles Calculations on the Electronic and Optical Properties of Polar Functional Materials
Current Position: Senior Associate at Gladstein, Neandross & Associates
Dr. Kelsey Mengle, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2019
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Current Position: Engineer at Apple
Dr. Andrew McAllister, Ph.D. Applied Physics and Scientific Computing , 2019
Thesis: First-Principles Calculation of Auger Recombination in Optoelectronic Materials
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Current Position: Policy Analyst at the New Jersey Assembly Democratic Office
Dr. Logan Williams, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2019
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher at Sandia National Laboratories
Dr. Jihang Lee, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2018
Thesis: Controlling Ionic Transport in RRAM for Memory and Neuromorphic Computing Applications
Kwanjeong Educational Foundation Scholarship
Co-advisor: Wei Lu, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Current Position: Engineer at Lam Research
Dr. Christina Jones, Ph.D. Applied Physics, 2017
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Co-advisor: Roy Clarke, Physics
Current Position: Senior Materials Scientist at 3M
Dr. Guangha Shi, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering and Scientific Computing, 2017
Current Position: Software Engineer at Google
Dr. Dylan Bayerl, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2015
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh
Masters students
Olivia Liebman, M.S. Materials Science & Engineering, 2019
Thesis: First Principles Calculations on the Optical and Electronic Properties of Bulk Silver
Current Position: PhD student at UCLA
Tiernan Baucom, M.S. Materials Science & Engineering, 2023
Thesis: First Principles Calculations of Electronic, Thermodynamic, and Optical Properties of GeSnO2 Alloys
Current Position: Materials Engineer at Rolls Royce
Undergraduate Students
Zekun Wu, Materials Science & Engineering (2023)
Ilhan Onder, Electrical Engineering and Engineering/Physics
Sayan Raychaudhuri, Materials Science & Engineering
Malhar Kute, Materials Science & Engineering
Kori Maxie, Materials Science & Engineering (2019)
Sahil Dagli, Materials Science & Engineering (2017-2019)
Kevin Greenman, Chemical Engineering (2017-2019)
Keyi Cai, Materials Science & Engineering (2016-2017)
Annika Fash-White, Materials Science & Engineering (2015)
Ian Nilsen, Materials Science & Engineering (2014-2015)
Xiaofan Ji, Materials Science & Engineering (2014-2015)
Dillon Kipke, Materials Science & Engineering (2012)