Jacob received his B.S. and M. S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1999 and 2001, respectively. Between 1999 and 2001, Jacob worked in industry as a mechanical product design engineer. In 2004, he completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Purdue University with Professors Bowman and Slamovich
as advisors.

His research was focused on processing of textured ceramics. At the conclusion of his graduate studies, Jacob received an NSF International Research Fellowship to conduct postdoctoral research abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia from 2004-2005 and at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa from 2005-2006. His postdoctoral research focused on fracture and fatigue of ferroelastic ceramics. In 2006, Jones joined the Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida where his research program is focused on piezoelectric ceramics. Piezoelectric ceramics can couple electrical and mechanical fields, enabling us to interact electrically
with the physical world.

Jones’ CAREER award aims to establish a new research and education framework in which to probe the relationship between structure and macroscopic properties of piezoelectric ceramics in the time domain. Understanding this relationship in the time domain is important in this class of materials because most of these devices operate under dynamic or cyclic conditions.

Using this framework, he will develop a more fundamental understanding of the origin of electromechanical behavior in a variety of piezoelectric ceramic systems. This includes the development of lead(Pb)-free piezoelectric ceramics, which are more environmental and biologically friendly, as well as multiferroic materials, in which piezoelectricity is also coupled with magnetism.

More on Jones' research and education activities can be found on his website: http://jjones.mse.ufl.edu/

More on textured piezoelectrics can also be found at https://engineering.purdue.edu/MSE/People/Faculty/kbowman/index.html