MSE PhD candidate, Yujie Wang has successfully defended his PhD thesis! Advised by Professor Kenneth Sandhage, Yujie’s research focused on developing functionally-graded composite materials. Figure shows the x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns across the cross-section of a functionally-graded WC/Cu – ZrC/W composite exhibits a gradient transition from a ZrC/W-rich exterior to a WC/Cu-rich core. The horizontal axis represents the 2θ values, the vertical axis measures the distance from the composite's outer surface, and the color legend quantifies the intensity levels of the normalized XRD patterns.