Advanced Computational Materials and Experimental Evaluation Lab

Dr. Michael D. Sangid

msangid@purdue.edu

Michael D. Sangid received his degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC): B.S. in 2002 with a minor in Mathematics, M.S. in 2005, and PhD in 2010. During his undergrad, he worked in the Advanced Materials Testing and Evaluation Laboratory and also the Autonomic Materials Laboratory in the fields of material behavior and testing.  His master’s research focused on Process Characterization of Vibrostrengthening and Application to Fatigue Enhancement of Aluminum Aerospace Components and was sponsored by the Boeing Corporation.  After completing his Master’s degree, Dr. Sangid spent two years working in Indianapolis, IN for Rolls-Royce Corporation, specializing in material characterization, deformation, fatigue, fracture, and creep of high temperature aerospace materials before resuming his education in 2007.  His research has centered around a multi-scale approach to understand grain boundary effects on crack initiation.  Through this work, atomistic simulations are used to quantify local energy barriers to deformation, which are built into continuum models to connect material structure to performance.  Dr. Sangid continued as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UIUC working on 1.) heterogeneous deformation of materials and fatigue crack growth testing and modeling of new and emerging materials and 2.) prediction of fiber orientation and length in polymer-based long fiber composites. 

In the fall of 2011, Dr. Sangid started as an Assistant Professor at Purdue University in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he continues his work on building computational materials models with experimental verification and validation efforts.  His research specifically focuses on (micro)structure to performance modeling, via using atomistic simulations to inform multi-scale models for plasticity, fatigue, and fracture of metallic alloys and high temperature composites.  Both material systems have direct applications in Aerospace Engineering.  There is also an experimental component to his research as he does advanced materials testing and characterization including digital image correlation, advanced microscopy, and stress analysis using high-energy x-ray diffraction at the synchrotron source at Argonne National Lab.  This research lies at the confluence of materials science and solid mechanics.  Dr. Sangid is an active member of the Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; ASM International; and Pi Tau Sigma Honor Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Krzysztof Stopka

kstopka@purdue.edu

Krzysztof (Kris) Stopka emigrated from southern Poland to the United States with his family in 1998. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in November of 2015 with a minor in Computational Science and an Aerospace Engineering concentration. During his undergraduate studies, Kris accumulated two years of internship experience at innovative companies such as GE Aviation, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX. He defended his PhD dissertation entitled "Integrated Computational Materials Engineering Workflows for Microstructure-Sensitive Fatigue of Advanced Alloys" in March 2021 under the advisement of Dr. David L. McDowell at the Georgia Institute of Technology before joining Dr. Michael D. Sangid’s research group in the summer of 2021. Kris’ research interests are at the interface of materials science, computational mechanics, crystal plasticity, fatigue and fracture, high-energy x-ray diffraction microscopy, and data science and analytics workflows.

Outside of research, Kris is passionate about mentorship and personal development, especially for younger students just getting started in their college/academic careers. His hobbies include fitness, reading, and listening to podcasts, and his long-term goal is to pursue a career in academia.

kstopka.com

Sven Gustafson

sgustaf@purdue.edu

Sven originates from a small town in New Hampshire.  He participated in a 3+2 liberal arts/engineering program at St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University respectively.  In spring of 2017, the program ended and earned him Bachelor’s degrees in Math, Physics, and Civil Engineering.  In fall of 2017, Sven began the pursuit of an Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering PhD degree at Purdue University.  His research will focus on using high energy X-ray diffraction (HEDM) to explore thermomechanical fatigue in engineering metals. 

Glenn R. Peterson

peter676@purdue.edu

Glenn Peterson received his master’s degree in nuclear engineering in 2015 from the Air Force Institute of Technology after completing his bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2013. His previous graduate research focused on characterizing surface features of two novel uranium-based materials studying Debye temperatures and bandgaps using a combination of photoemission spectroscopy techniques. Glenn spent the past several years working in the public sector on various engineering projects taking him across the country and around the world. He enters Purdue University as a Secretary of the Air Force STEM PhD Fellow supported by the Purdue Military Research Initiative. He is co-advised by Dr. Sangid and Dr. Sandhage from the School of Materials Engineering. Glenn’s current research efforts focus on processing, characterizing, and modeling a novel cermet with ultra-high temperature applications focusing on basic thermal-mechanical properties and studying the effects of thermal fatigue.   

Jose Javier Solano

jjsolanol@purdue.edu

Javi Solano is from The Woodlands, Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston in 2021 with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. Throughout his undergraduate studies Javi served as an instructor for engineering education programs in Houston-area elementary schools and at the University of Houston. In 2021 he was awarded the Barry Goldwater Scholarship for excellence in engineering education. Javi first began his research career at Purdue University in the summer of 2019, continuing in his role for 3 consecutive summers until enrolling in the graduate school in Spring 2022. In his previous work he documented and categorized crack evolution in a carbon fiber epoxy composite using synchrotron X-ray tomography at Argonne National Lab. This work has fueled his co-authorship on two scientific articles. Javi is interested in the micromechanical response of aerospace materials, specifically the computational modeling and prediction of defects and their effects on crack evolution. Outside the lab Javi’s hobbies include lifting weights, cheering for the Green Bay Packers, and learning to play the piano.

Sean Skweres

sskweres@purdue.edu

Sean grew up in Magnolia, Texas near Houston. Being so close to the Johnson Space Center, he quickly became fascinated with space and aerodynamics. After graduating high school, he attended Colorado School of Mines, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. The curriculum at Mines inspired him to combine his passions of aerospace and mechanical concepts for his PhD. 

Sean first realized his passion for the research process when he installed a data acquisition system that monitored critical parameters on a Tunnel Boring Machine in Seattle, Washington. Later on, he joined the Mines Optical Diagnostics for Energy Systems (MODES) research lab where he focused on modelling and simulating ionic diffusion in battery electrolytes. 

In his free time, Sean enjoys playing tennis, hiking, biking, hunting, and fishing. He also plays percussion and drum set. This past summer before arriving at Purdue, he completed a 3-day, 20 mile backpacking trip in the Colorado wilderness. Sean will surely miss playing frisbee and tug of war with his dogs back in Colorado, but looks forward to the endless opportunities that await in Indiana. 

Kyle Jung

jung408@purdue.edu

Kyle grew up in Belmont, CA. He graduated from UC Davis in Spring 2022 and received his B.S. with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Science and Engineering. He began his research career at UC Davis's Advanced Composites Research and Engineering Science (ACRES) Lab with Dr. Valeria La Saponara, where he gained an interest in both computational and experimental research while he characterized composites and bio-derived materials. In a SULI Summer internship at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Kyle performed hydrodynamic and electrochemical simulations to model metallic coating methods for 3D printed polymers and validated them with experimental results. In Fall 2022, Kyle joined Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics to pursue a PhD. His research in the ACME Lab will focus on characterizing and modeling additive manufactured aerospace alloys to better understand their defects and failure mechanics.

 

Outside the lab, Kyle enjoys playing music on the guitar, ukulele, drums, singing, beatboxing, brewing coffee, and watching anime.

Ian Holmes

holme136@purdue.edu

Ian grew up in Los Angeles, CA. He graduated from California State University, Long Beach in Spring 2021 and received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with an emphasis in Astronautics. He began his research career in the 2019 working under Dr. Daniel Whisler as a member of The Impact Group (TIG) funded as a fellow by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Here, he gained in interest in experimental and computational work characterizing materials and structures subjected to low and high strain rate impacts. He published his undergraduate honors thesis in 2021 working to develop Hopkinson bar testing methods and smoothed particle hydrodynamic computational techniques to analyze bird strike impacts to improve safety in modern commercial aviation. In Spring 2023, Ian joined Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics to pursue a PhD. 

 

Outside of research, Ian enjoys playing basketball, hiking, camping, and riding motorcycles on the road and dirtbikes off-road.

Drew Priest

priestd@purdue.edu

Drew grew up in Santa Claus, Indiana and received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Spring 2022. In his undergraduate degree, he focused in materials and completed projects in aircraft structural design with considerations for AM and experimental testing of AM composite aerospace structures. He completed a summer internship with Sandia Labs where he did work with dynamic material strength modelling and spent the Fall 2020 semester on exchange at Oklahoma University as a guest student and an AFROTC cadet. He returned to the Hoosier state in Fall 2022 to start his M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. He joined the group to complete research in hypersonic materials in the new HAMTC lab and will attend U.S. Air Force Pilot Training after the completion of his degree. His personal interests include snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, backpacking, and reading.

Taylor Hodes

thodes@purdue.edu

Taylor Hodes is from Frisco, Texas. She graduated from the University of Kansas in December of 2022 with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and minors in mathematics and economics. At KU she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and the AIAA student branch where she held many leadership positions. She worked as a structural engineering Co-Op in the Summer/Fall of 2020 at L3Harris in Greenville, TX and as a structural engineering intern/aide from the Summer of 2021 through the Summer of 2022 at Sierra Nevada Corporation in Denver, CO. At her internships she developed an interest in aircraft D&DT work and determining new inspection intervals for modified airframes. Outside of the lab Taylor enjoys hiking, reading, and watching movies.”