PHATE Research Group

Shamberger Lab

Team

Research Opportunities:  Graduate & Undergraduate Researchers

The group currently has openings for qualified and enthusiastic graduate students (starting fall 2017) and for motivated undergraduate students.  Feel free to contact the PI to express interest in joining the research group.

Postdocs/Researchers

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Delia Perez

Researcher
(2017 – present)

Graduate Students

Tim Brown

Graduate Student (PhD)
Hysteresis and phase transition engineering of martensitic transitions for room-temperature caloric cooling devices
(2014 – present)

  • Quantified critical effect of magnetic refrigerant magnetocaloric coupling and hysteresis on caloric device conversion efficiency via irreversible thermodynamic cycle simulations
  • Studied role of martensitic symmetry-breaking and lattice compatibility mechanisms in controlling transformation behavior and hysteresis in magnetocaloric (MnFe)2PSi alloys and electrocaloric VO2 nanorods
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Heidi Clarke

Graduate Student (PhD)
Microscopic resistance switching mechanisms in HfO2 and VO2
(2014 – present)
Imaging of Conductive Filaments in HfO2

  • AFM-based technique to create 3D tomogram of formed nano-scale conductive filaments
  • Effects of microstructure on kinetics of Cu transport in metal-insulator-metal structures

Imaging of M-I-T in VO2 single crystals

  • Statistics of martensitic nucleation in VO2
  • AFM-based techniques to understand nucleation/growth of metal-insulator domains in VO2 single crystals
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Yijia Zhang

Graduate Student (PhD)
Size effects on thermoelastic martensitic transformations
(2015 – present)

  • Electrochemical deposition of Heusler alloy films
  • Microstructure Analysis
  • Structure and theory of thermoelastic martensitic transformations
 

Alison Hoe

Graduate Student (PhD)
Heat transfer and storage in composite heat sinks
(2017 – present)

  • Design of composite systems to develop high cooling power / efficient heat sinks
  • Theory of composite heat transfer structures
  • Numerical and experimental observations of melting in composite systems
 

Michael Deckard

Graduate Student (MS)
Conductive Heat Transfer in Composite Heatsinks
(2017 – present)

  • FEM of conductive heat transfer in composite phase change media
  • Analytical expressions describing motion of phase boundaries in composite phase change problems

Undergraduate Students

 

Daniel Galvan

undergraduate, Junior (CHEN)

Assessing the Performance of Fe2P Alloys Under Various Magnetic Refrigeration Cycle

  • Model the Hysteric Properties of GMCE Materials
  • Microscopic Characterization of Phase Transformations

(2015 – present)

 Laura Deremo

Laura Deremo

undergraduate, Senior (ECEN)
Failure in Electrical Resistance Switches
(2017 – present)

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Julia Billman

undergraduate, Junior(MEEN)
Clare Booth Luce scholar
(2017 – present)

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John Moynihan

undergraduate, Junior (CHEN)
Robust Repeatable Behavior in Salt Hydrate Thermal Energy Storage
(2018 – present)

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Nandha Ramasamy

undergraduate, Senior (CHEN)
First-order Phase Transformations in Fe2P Alloys
(2018 – present)

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Nathan Turner

undergraduate, Sophomore (CHEN)
Undercooling in Salt Hydrate Thermal Energy Storage
(2018 – present)

Post-Doc Alumni

Amy Bolon: PD Researcher. Transitioning Salt Hydrate Phase Change Materials (2017) {Currently with Enterprise Products}

Eunju Jung: PD Researcher. Effectiveness of Active Learning Pedagogies in an Introductory Materials Science Class (2015-2016) {Currently PD at Univ Indiana – Bloomington}

Graduate Student Alumni

Emily Emmons: MS. Corrosion of Common Heat Exchanger Materials by Lithium Nitrate Trihydrate
(2015 – 2017)

UG Alumni

Joseph Anderson:
UG Researcher (PHYS). 3D Tomography of Conductive Filaments (2018) UG Honors thesis {Currently PhD at Purdue Univ., IN}

Aaron Garcia:
UG Researcher (MEEN). Thermophysical Properties of Salt Hydrates (2018)

Molly Jones: REU Summer Intern. Phase transformations in Heusler alloy thick films (summer 2017). {Currently UG at Ole Miss}

Sunita Kumari: IITK Summer Intern. Structure of insulating composites (summer 2017). {Currently MS at IITK, India}

Elizabeth Yee:
UG Researcher (CHEN). Decomposition of Ammonia Salts (2017)

Sarah Hammock: UG Researcher (CHEN). 3D cAFM Imaging of Conductive Filaments in HfO2 Resistive Switching Devices(2015-2017) UG Honors thesis {Currently MS at UW Seattle, WA}

Bill Caraway: UG Researcher (MEEN). Imaging Phase Transitions in VO2 particles (2016-2017)

Nick Gripp: UG Researcher (CHEM). Decomposition of Ammonia Salts (2016-2017) {Currently MS at TAMU}

Tyler Buffington: UG Researcher (MEEN). Thermodynamic Efficacy of Irreversible Magnetocaloric Effect Cycles (2015-2016) UG Honors thesis {Currently MS at UT Austin, TX}

Adam McClellan: UG Researcher (ISEN). Materials Stability of Thermal Energy Storage Materials (2015-2016)

Xander Majek: UG Researcher (PHYS). Electrical Resistance Switching in Sputtering Grown HfO2 Devices (2015-2016)

Erika Salzman: HS Researcher. Undercooling in Mg(NO3)2 hydrates (2015-2016)  {Currently UG at Caltech}

Yasushi Mizuno: UG Researcher (MEEN). Entropy of Fusion in Low Melting Point Alloys (2014-2015) {Currently GS at TAMU}

Taylor Messinger: UG Researcher (MMET). Thermal Properties of Salt Hydrate (2015)

Joshua Murley: UG Researcher (CHEN). Indirect Entropy Measurement in Magnetocaloric Effect Materials (2014-2015)
Best presentation award at UG Gulf Coast Research Symposium

Shelby Turner: UG Researcher (ECEN). Electrical Resistance Switching in HfO2 Dielectrics (Spring 2015) {Currently GS at Ecole Centrale de Lyon}

Temi Balogun: UG Researcher (MEEN). Electrical Resistance Switching in HfO2 Dielectrics (Fall 2014)

Trey Torno: UG Researcher (CHEN). Magnetic Domain Structures in Magnetocaloric Heusler Alloys Near the FOPT. (Summer 2014-Fall 2014)
TAMU USRG Fellowship

Anna Rubin: UG Researcher (MEEN). Salt Hydrate Thermal Energy Storage Gels. (Summer 2014)

Pawan Bhandari: UG Researcher (MEEN). Thermophysical Properties of Low Melting point Alloys (2014)