Fourth year Ph.D. candidate Chris Fancher, who received his B.S. in Multi-Disciplinary Engineering from Purdue in 2009, traveled to Germany for a summer internship at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Research focuses on the development of thermodynamic and kinetic theories, models, and algorithms to realize improved portable and stationary energy storage technology.

Solid-state energy conversion devices, as a class, offer improved reliability, smaller size and reduced environmental impact as compared to established technologies such as incandescent lighting and compressor-based refrigeration.

Hydrothermal processing enables the synthesis of many crystalline ceramic materials without a calcination step at temperatures of 200oC and lower.

Our research is focused on polymeric materials and their application to the production of nanostructures and biomaterials. With the strong ties to surface science in these areas, selective surface modification of polymeric materials is a strong thrust in our group.

Our research group is investigating a recently developed injection technology for quickly and inexpensively manufacturing coatings comprised of nano-scale features of virtually any material that can be dispersed in a solvent and that melts.

We are interested in developing predictive capabilities to model the final multiscale structure of metal alloys during and after solidification.

A central focus of ceramic research in recent years has been microstructural design employing integrated consideration of processing-property relationships.

Researchers have demonstrated that unique properties can be developed in materials using powder slurry green bodies that are formed using centrifugal processing.