John Rotella - 2016 NDSEG Research Fellowship
John Rotella, a 2nd year PhD candidate in Materials Engineering
John Rotella, a 2nd year PhD candidate in Materials Engineering, won a 2016 NDSEG Research Fellowship. This prestigious award provides full support for his stipend and tuition for up to 3 years during the remainder of his PhD studies.
John, who is advised by Dr. Michael Sangid, works on the verification of grain boundary engineered nickel-based superalloys. Through the process of Grain Boundary Engineering, we have the ability to tailor the volume fraction of the annealing twins to improve the mechanical behavior of a material. This research is aimed at studying the deformation behavior of nickel-based superalloys with different volume fractions of annealing twins and varying grain sizes. Success in this area could lead to more fuel efficient aircraft and longer service lives for internal components.