Maria Okuniewski

Maria Okuniewski

Assistant Professor of Materials Engineering

Dr. Okuniewski received her MS and PhD degrees in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004 and 2008 and her BS degree from the University of Tampa.

Prior to joining Purdue University in January 2016, she was a staff scientist and engineer at Idaho National Laboratory for almost eight years in the Nuclear Fuels and Materials Division. Dr. Okuniewski was also an adjunct faculty member at Idaho State University in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Health Physics. She received the Department of Energy, Fuel Cycle Research & Development Excellence Award in 2013.

Her research focus is on understanding the connections between the microstructure of nuclear materials and fuels and their mechanical properties.