Brhayan Stiven Puentes Rodríguez earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2017 from the National University of Colombia. He is now a materials engineering PhD student at Purdue, where he also is earning a Teaching and Learning in Engineering Graduate Certificate. His research focus is on microstructure development in materials processing and development of high resistivity electrical steel alloys. In his graduate research assistant duties, he has participated in the scale-up process to produce 2-inch strips of experimental electrical steel alloys by using cutting processes. He is the instructor for the MSE 235 Materials Properties Lab, in which he has trained undergraduates in fundamental concepts like XRD, metallography, fracture, thermal properties, and phase diagrams. Brhayan has served as a UREP-C mentor of three students and has trained several others on techniques and equipment such as rolling, forging, and machining. Brhayan is the recipient of the Purdue Engineering Dean’s Teaching Fellowship and is a member of the Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Student Association, serving as president from 2019-2020. One of his future projects is to pursue technological advancements in soft magnetic alloys to increase energy efficiency. As a future professor, he plans to use the “backwards design” so that students can learn how to interconnect new knowledge and skills with the big picture and how this new knowledge can relate to future career paths. 

Research Interests

Alloy Development