Group
Post-Doctoral Researchers
Dr. Xiao Zhang
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests: Computational materials discovery and method development
Graduate Students
Woncheol Lee
Kwanjeong Educational Foundation Scholar
Ph.D. Candidate Electrical & Computer Engineering, Co-advised by Mack Kira, ECE
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Seoul National University
Research Interests: Quantum confinement and excitonic effects in quantum well heterostructures, Auger recombination in two-dimensional structures
Favorite Cat: Smudge, the cat
Kyle Bushick
U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow
Ph.D. Candidate Materials Science & Engineering and Scientific Computing
B.S. Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern University
Research Interests: Characterization of electronic and optical properties of III-V materials for lighting/PV applications, computational method development for Auger recombination and electron-phonon coupling
Favorite Pastime: Playing intramural sports on the MSE team, "The Bucky Ballers"
Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholar
Ph.D. Candidate Applied Physics and Scientific Computing
B.Eng. Honours Electrical Engineering, McGill University
Research Interests: Localization and disorder effects in III-nitride alloys for optoelectronics, physics of Auger recombination, interfacial charge transfer and dynamics on semiconductor surfaces
Favorite Coffeeshop in Ann Arbor: Vertex Coffee Roasters
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
Matt Webb
Ph.D. Candidate Materials Science & Engineering, Co-advised by John Heron, MSE
B.A. & M.Sci. Natural Sciences (Materials Science), University of Cambridge
Research Interests: Growth and simulation of rocksalt-structured entropy stabilised oxides
Favorite Color: Blue
Amanda Wang
Rackham Merit Fellow
Ph.D. Student Materials Science & Engineering
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
Ph.D. Student Materials Science & Engineering
B.S. Chemical Physics, Rice University
Research Interests: Tuneable optoelectronic properties of III-V materials, thermodynamics and kinetics of defect formation with alloy composition
Favorite Fruit: Strawberries
Yujie Liu
Ph.D. Student Materials Science & Engineering
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. Student 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
Ph.D. Student Materials Science & Engineering, Co-advised by Parag Deotare, ECE
Coming soon...
Tiernan Baucom
Ph.D. Student Materials Science & Engineering
Coming soon...
Undergraduate Students
Ilhan Onder, Electrical Engineering and Engineering Physics
Sayan Raychaudhuri, Materials Science & Engineering
Malhar Kute, Materials Science & Engineering
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. Sieun Chae, Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, 2022
Barbour Centennial Scholar & Rackham International Student Fellow
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Schlom Group, Cornell 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
Thesis: First-Principles Calculations of the Thermodynamic, Structural, Electronic, and Optical Properties of Compositionally Disordered Semiconductor Materials
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
Thesis: First-Principles Calculations of Optoelectronic and Transport Properties of Materials for Energy Applications
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh
Masters students
Olivia Liebmann, 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
Undergraduate Students
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)