Open Student Position: MSE PhD Student
Open Student Position: MSE Ph.D. Student
Duration: Summer 2024 – Summer 2027
Location: Materials Science and Engineering Department and Center for Additive Manufacturing and Logistics, Raleigh NC 27606
PI’s: Christopher Rock (NCSU CAMAL), Martin Thou ( NCSU MSE), Karen Daniels (NCSU Physics)
Description:
An MSE PhD student will work on developing a new class of ultralight, manufacturable materials as a collaboration between the Materials Science and Engineering Department, Center for Additive Manufacturing and Logistics, and the Physics Department at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. The anticipated start date is on or after July 1, 2024. This position will be funded through a new NSF DMREF award, “Iterative Design and Fabrication of Hyperuniform-Inspired Materials for Targeted Mechanical and Transport Properties”, that includes close collaborations with faculty, post docs and students from NC State, UNC Chapel Hill, UCLA, and JHU (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323341 ).
Goals:
The broad goal of the project is to jointly optimize mechanical (stiffness and strength) and transport (thermal, acoustic, and electrical) properties to design a new class of disordered lattice materials. The PhD research assistant (RA) at NCSU will work on fabricating complex network-shape articles from metals using additive manufacturing (AM) technologies in CAMAL facilities (https://www.camal.ncsu.edu/). These include laser & electron beam powder bed fusion, & binder jetting metal systems, and powder & resin-based polymer systems. Custom metal alloy powders will also be produced for the project using CAMAL’s gas atomizer.
Recommended:
Candidates are recommended to have a Master’s in Materials/Metallurgy or a related field by the start of the appointment. Considerations will also be given to exceptional graduating BS MSE students. The student will develop skills in metal and polymer AM, powder metallurgy, thermodynamic and FEM modeling, advanced materials characterization techniques, graph theory and properties testing.
Expectations:
The RA appointment is for 3 years with the expectation that a dissertation defense occurs at/near the end of the funded project. It is also expected that the student publishes a minimum of 3 first author papers associated with the project.
Our Team is committed to creating an inclusive research group that supports the professional development and outreach participation of all members. The RA position will additionally benefit from opportunities offered by the collaboration with CAMAL students from diverse engineering, physics and math backgrounds. Applications from groups historically underrepresented in the sciences are highly encouraged.