Our group’s work was featured in the MSE department update

January 2023

The MSE department update features our group’s work on the performance of different solder joints for use in future space missions, titled “Structure, Properties and Performance of Solder Joints in Terrestrial vs. Reduced-Gravity Environments”. Our group has been working with NASA, and this is the third research award from NASA.

Further details of the news update can be found here

Technical presentation at the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) conference 2022

November 2022

Congratulations

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group gave a poster presentation on “Structure and Properties of Pb-Sn solder Joints Produced in Terrestrial vs. Microgravity Conditions” at the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) conference 2022.

The ASGSR-2022 conference was held Wednesday, Nov. 9th – Saturday, Nov 11th, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston, Texas. The purpose of the ASGS-2022 conference was to bring together a diverse group of scientists and engineers to encourage an exchange of ideas bridging basic and applied biological and physical sciences research and technology in space and on the ground.

November 2022

Congratulations!

Undergraduate students Soren Hellyer and Caleb M Ogden, working with Dr. Pathak, have been awarded funding from NASA – Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) to provide experiences to undergraduates that promote skills for STEM careers through hands-on activities. This funding is granted to proposals that align with the research priorities of the NASA Mission Directorates. The proposed work aims to study the effects of aging on the structure and properties of off-eutectic Pb-Sn solder joints produced in terrestrial environments project. This study’s understanding will directly relate to the current project funded by the NASA ISS Flight opportunity grant, where we have an upcoming flight scheduled (in summer/Fall 2023) to the ISS to conduct additional soldering experiments under microgravity conditions.

Team: Undergraduate students: Soren Hellyer and Caleb M Ogden

Graduate Mentor: Manish Kumar

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sid Pathak

October 2022

Congratulations

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group gave a poster presentation on “Grain Interface Functional Design to Create Damage Resistance in Polycrystalline Metallic Materials” in NSF student poster competition at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) 2022, organized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

The ASME IMECE 2022 Conference was held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. ASME’s International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) is the event where R&D leaders from industry, government, and academia converge to make connections and share insights for innovation across engineering disciplines.

NASA selects Dr. Pathak to test materials for future missions

September 13, 2022

Congratulations!

The Issue released by the Office of the Vice President for Iowa State University recognizes the grant won by Prof. Sid Pathak. Sid’s proposal was among the five selected proposals in the investigation of materials for future missions. The proposal titled “Structure, Properties, and Performance of Solder Joints in Terrestrial vs. Reduced-Gravity Environments” has been stated to find applicability in In-space Soldering Investigation experiments to assist NASA to obtain a robust grasp of the development of porosity in solder joints under different harsh geographic conditions. He has a track record of excellence as he has already received a total of eight grants, three of which were from NASA while others came from sources such as DOE, NSF, and ARO since joining Iowa State University as a faculty member three years ago.

Further details of the news can be obtained here: https://news.engineering.iastate.edu/2022/09/13/nasa-selects-mse-professor-to-test-materials-for-future-missions/

September 2022

Congratulations!

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group, has been awarded the ASME IMECE 2022 Travel Grant Award to help defray the costs of his attendance at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) 2022, organized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

The ASME IMECE 2022 Conference is to be held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. ASME’s International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) is the event where R&D leaders from industry, government, and academia converge to make connections and share insights for innovation across engineering disciplines.

August 2022

Congratulations!

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group, has been awarded the ASGSR Student Travel Award-2022 to help defray the costs of his attendance at the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) conference 2022.

The ASGSR-2022 conference will be held Wednesday, Nov. 9th – Saturday, Nov 11th, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston, Texas. The purpose of the ASGSR conference is to bring together a diverse group of scientists and engineers to encourage an exchange of ideas bridging basic and applied biological and physical sciences research and technology in space and on the ground.

Ph.D. Graduation!

July 2022

Congratulations, Soumya Varma!!
Soumya Varma is the second student from our group who graduated with a Ph.D. Soumya’s interest of study was on Micromechanical Investigations of the Remarkable Damage Tolerance in Tooth-Enamel of Hadrosaurid Dinosaurs. She is currently working in KLA as a senior application Scientist.

June 30

Congratulations!

Prof Pathak has received NASA’s Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) Grant, which is part of Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences – 2021 (ROSES-2021) solicitation. . The proposed work will use In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSI) experiment to investigate and improve our understanding of how porosity develops in the solder joints, how it is influenced by gravity, and how solder joints properties and functions are affected. The proposed work would apply advanced 3D materials characterization to solder samples from ISSI and non-ISSI compositions. The additional characterization may feedback into the design of the next generation of on-orbit experiments for soldering, essential for future long-duration human exploration missions. 

The full text of the announcement can be found here: https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/biological-physical/nasa-selects-5-proposals-to-provide-new-insights-from-openly-available-data-in-the-physical-sciences-informatics-system

March 2022

Congratulations!

Soumya Varma, a graduate student from our group, has been awarded an Enamel 10 New Investigator Award to help defray the costs of her attendance at the 10th International Symposium on Dental Enamel.

The symposium is to be held Sunday, May 8th – Thursday, May 12th, at the University Club on campus at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The purpose of the symposium is to promote open discussion and exchange of ideas amongst an international group of scientists from across the career spectrum working in the field of dental enamel research and in related fields.

February 2022

Our research group attended the TMS conference in 2022. The students participated in various networking events and presented research talks.

The following students presented talks on their research topics:

• Cayla Harvey: “Microstructural Characterization and Micro-Mechanical Properties of 14YWT Tubing after Proton Irradiation”
• Soumya Varma: “Micromechanical and Microstructural Studies of Wavy Enamel in the Grinding Dentition of Hadrosauid Dinosaurs: Understanding its Remarkable Damage Tolerance and Fracture Resistance”
• Skye Supakul: “Mechanistic-design of Multilayered Nanocomposites: Hierarchical Metal-MAX Materials for Tunable Strength and Toughness”
• Manish Kumar: “Structure and Properties of the Solder Joints Produced in Terrestrial and Microgravity Environments”

ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship 2022

February 2022

Congratulations!

Skye Supakul has been awarded a prestigious ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship 2022 for his stay in Switzerland. He will be doing his research work at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) in Switzerland. ThinkSwiss is an official scholarship program managed by the Office of Science, Technology, and Higher Education at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C.

2022 GSR Journal Cover Award

November 2021

Congratulations!

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group won the 2021 ASGSR art in journal category. His work “Structure, Properties, and Performance of Solder Joints Produced in Terrestrial & Microgravity Conditions” will feature as the cover of the ASGSR’s Open-Access journal Gravitational and Space Research for 2022.

Poster presentation at American Society for Gravitational and Space Research Conference (ASGSR-2021)

November 2021

Congratulations!

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group gave a poster presentation on “Structure, Properties, and Performance of Solder Joints Produced in Terrestrial & Microgravity Conditions” at the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research Conference (ASGSR-2021). The meeting was hosted by ASGSR (Nov 3rd to Nov 6th) in Baltimore, Maryland.

Poster presentation at Von Braun Memorial Symposium (VBS-2021)

October 2021

Congratulations!

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group gave a poster presentation on “Understanding the Local Structure-Properties relationships of Pb-Sn Solders Produced in Terrestrial vs. Microgravity Conditions” at the Von Braun Memorial Symposium (VBS – 2021).

The event was organized by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) in collaboration with University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH) and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. This year’s theme was – United: A Foundation Delivered, The Future Enabled – focused on the progress made to date and the plans and goals for future space science and exploration.

Prof Pathak receives NEET-1 grant from DOE’s FY2021 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research program

September 2021

Congratulations!

Prof Pathak is leading a university, National Laboratory and industry collaborative team on a US Department of Energy (DOE) funded Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET-1) project in ‘Advanced Methods for Manufacturing’ titled “Direct Production of ODS Ferritic Alloys for Long-life Reactor Fuel Bundles: Sheet Material for Ducts and Tubing Pre-forms for Cladding”. This three year $1-Million project is a collaboration between Iowa State University, and three US national laboratories (Ames Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory along with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) and an industry partner (Westinghouse Electric Co).

More information can be found here: https://neup.inl.gov/SitePages/FY21_NEET_Awards.aspx

Technical presentation at International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC – 2021)

August 2021

Congratulations!

Manish Kumar, a graduate student from our group gave a technical presentation on “Structure and Properties of Solder Joints Produced in Terrestrial & Microgravity Conditions” at the International Space Station Research and Development conference (ISSRDC – 2021).

The event was hosted virtually by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), manager of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory; NASA; and the American Astronautical Society.

Prof Pathak receives the highly competitive NSF Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) grant

August 2021

Congratulations!

Prof Pathak is part of a multi-university team who have been awarded the 2021 NSF DMREF grant for “Grain Interface Functional Design to Create Damage Resistance in Polycrystalline Metallic Materials”. This award is in collaboration with University of Wisconsin, Madison (Prof. Curt Bronkhorst and Prof. Nan Chen) and University of New Hampshire (Prof. Marko Knezevic).

This is very exciting, as well as a humbling achievement (the NSF program manager had mentioned that the 2021 DMREF competition was “the most competitive to date”.)

More information can be found here: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2118673&HistoricalAwards=false

Prof Pathak receives NASA International Space Station Flight Opportunity grant

August 2021

Congratulations!

Prof Pathak has received the 2021 NASA EPSCoR International Space Station (ISS) Award. The proposed work builds on a current NASA Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) grant for studying solders in terrestrial vs. microgravity environments, and will utilize the MaRVIn test platform to conduct controlled soldering experiments on ground vs. onboard the ISS. The understanding gained from this work will allow us to develop electronics repair capabilities essential for future long-duration human exploration missions in (and beyond) low Earth orbit (ex: Moon, Mars)

Prof Pathak receives NSF-MRI Grant

August 2021

Congratulations!

Prof Pathak is part of an ISU team that has been awarded 2021 NSF-MRI grant for Acquisition of an Advanced Multi-Functional Wide-Wavelength-Range Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer for Multi-Materials Characterization.

More information can be found here: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117445&HistoricalAwards=false

Sezer Picak has joined as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Dr. Pathak’s Research Group

August 2021

Congratulations!

Sezer Picak has joined Dr. Pathak’s research group as a postdoctoral scholar. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. His postdoctoral research focuses on investigating the mechanical properties of a deposited metal-MAX nanocomposite and/or MAX phase thin film relative to the specific deposition or relative to reference material systems.

Soumya Varma has successfully completed her preliminary proposal defense

August 2021

Congratulations!

Soumya Varma successfully defended her preliminary oral exam towards the partial fulfilment of her PhD. degree on August, 10th 2021, on the thesis titled, “Micromechanical and Microstructural studies of the wavy enamel of duck-billed dinosaurs: Understanding its enhanced strength and damage tolerance properties.”

ISU Presidential Award CoSPRT to partially fund Alemnis system

March 2021

Congratulations!

Our group has received Presidential Cost Sharing Program for Research Tools (CoSPRT) funds that will partially fund the Alemnis in-situ micro-mechanical system.

CoSPRT is building Iowa State’s research infrastructure by offering support for new research instruments, expanding the capabilities of existing equipment, developing new instrumentation, and investing in research aids and enhancers such as data sets, archives and software.

ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship 2021

February 2021

Congratulations!

Soumya Varma has been awarded a prestigious ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship 2021 for her stay in Switzerland. She will be doing her research work at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) in Switzerland. ThinkSwiss is an official scholarship program managed by the Office of Science, Technology, and Higher Education at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C.

Internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Cayla Harvey is currently conducting her thesis work at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) through her Integrated University (IUP) program by the Department of Energy (DOE) funded 3 year fellowship. She is working with the Materials Science and Technology division to investigate oxide dispersion strengthened steels for application as fuel cladding in future generation nuclear reactors.

Presentation at Ames Lab Scientific Seminar Series

February 2021

Dr Sid Pathak delivered a presentation titled  “Probing Nanoscale Damage Gradients in Irradiated Metals using Nano-mechanical Test Techniques”  on February 1 2021.

Soumya Varma receives Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research

January 2021

Congratulations!

Sigma Xi’s Committee on Grants-in-Aid of Research has approved Soumya Varma’s research grant proposal submitted for the October 1, 2020 application cycle.

ISU news release about the FY21 DURIP award 

The news article on the FY21 DURIP Program award for the proposal “In-Situ Micro-Mechanical System for Testing of Advanced Materials under Extreme Conditions of Temperature, Strain-Rate, and Applied Stress” has been published at the Iowa State University College of Engineering news.

The news article can be found here: https://news.engineering.iastate.edu/2020/12/16/new-dod-projects-support-new-instruments-with-eye-on-new-materials/

Cayla Harvey has successfully completed her preliminary proposal defense

December 2020

Congratulations!

Cayla Harvey gave her preliminary proposal defense on the topic of Micro-mechanical investigations of irradiation tolerance in nanostructured ferritic alloys processed into thin-walled tubing. This is in defense of her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering under Dr. Sid Pathak. Her committee consists of advisors from Iowa State University, University of Nevada, Reno, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.  

Prof. Pathak receives FY21 DURIP Program award

December 2020

Congratulations!

Our lab has been awarded the FY21 DURIP Program award for the proposal ” In-Situ Micro-Mechanical System for Testing of Advanced Materials under Extreme Conditions of Temperature, Strain-Rate, and Applied Stress.”

In the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) program, the Department of Defense (DoD) seeks specific proposals from university investigators conducting foundational science and engineering research relevant to national defense.

The annual DURIP award process is highly competitive. For the FY 2021 competition, 742 proposals requesting $297 million in total funding were received, out of which DoD funded 150 university researchers totaling $50 million.

News released from the United States DOD can be seen here:  https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2430566/dod-awards-50-million-in-university-research-equipment-awards/

New publication

Check out our new article published in Materials Science and Engineering (A) titled High Temperature Nanoindentation of Cu-TiN Nanolaminates. Group members Cayla Harvey and Dr. Sid Pathak were involved in this work.

The link to the article is https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2020.140522.

New publication

Check out our new article published in Communications Materials 1 titled Extreme shear-deformation-induced modification of defect structures and hierarchical microstructure in an Al–Si alloy. Group members Soumya Varma and Dr. Sid Pathak were involved in this work.

The link to the article is https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-020-00087-x.

New publication

Check out our new article published in Materials Characterization titled Microstructural and micro-mechanical analysis of 14YWT nanostructured Ferritic alloy after varying thermo-mechanical processing paths into tubing. Group members Cayla Harvey and Dr. Sid Pathak were involved in this work.

The link to the article is https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2020.110744.

Internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Cayla Harvey is currently conducting her thesis work at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) through her Integrated University (IUP) program by the Department of Energy (DOE) funded 3 year fellowship. She is working with the Materials Science and Technology division to investigate oxide dispersion strengthened steels for application as fuel cladding in future generation nuclear reactors.

Welcome to Ames, Iowa

August 2020,

Dr. Pathak along with his group joined Iowa State University starting Fall 2020.

Dr. Pathak joined as an Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University.

Our Research Group at The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society(TMS) 2020, San Diego.

February 2020,

Dr. Pathak and his research group attended the TMS conference in 2020. The students participated in various networking events and presented posters and research talks.

The following students presented talks on their research topics:

•Soumya Varma: “The Unique Microstructure and fracture properties of enamel in Hydrosaurid Dinosaur”

•Cayla Harvey: Nanostructured Ferritic Alloy (NFA) 14YWT: Effect of Processing Paths for Thin-Walled Tubing on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties.

•Anugraha TK: “Studying the Anisotropic Deformation of Sapphire in Different Crystallographic Orientations using Nanoindentation and Micropillar Compression”

•Skye Supukul presented a poster on ” Designing microscale response test to validate macroscale plastic response in Mg”

2020 Material Advantage Congressional Visit Day (CVD)

February 2020,

Congratulations!!

Donald Williams’s registration has been accepted for the 2020 Material Advantage CVD event in Washington, D.C.

Donald Williams’s registration has been accepted for the 2020 Material Advantage CVD event. CVD gives US-based Material Advantage Student Members an exciting opportunity to visit with legislators and congressional staff from their own states. The goal of the event is to educate Congress about the importance of research in materials science, engineering, and manufacturing and the need to increase federal R&D funding. Donald Williams will be participating in this event to emphasize the long-term importance of science, engineering, and technology through meetings with congressional decision-makers.

Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding Opportunity

January 2020,

As a part of NSF’s direct efforts to the hat directly advance the STEM workforce a supplemental funding opportunity was provided to support for non-academic research internship for graduate students to support career opportunities in any sector of the U.S. economy. This supplement funding was provided to Dr. Sid Pathak to send his students to Los Alamos national lab as a part of this effort starting January to August 2020.

The following students will be going to Los Alamos:

Soumya Varma, Cayla Harvey, Anugraha TK, Skye Supukul.

High-Pressure CAT (HP-XSD) Workshop at Advanced Photon Source(APS) Argonne National Laboratory

January 2020,

Poster Presentation!!

Anugraha and Skye Supukul from our lab group attended the HPCAT Workshop organized by HPCAT, APS. The students received hands-on training on various techniques used in loading the Diamond Anvil Cell and lectures and discussions on various high-pressure techniques available at HPCAT for their future work.

The two students also presented posters during one of the workshop dinner sessions.

NSF EPSCoR Research Fellowship

February 2020,

Congratulations!!

Prof. Pathak receives 2020 NSF EPSCoR Research Fellowship.

Prof. Pathak has been awarded the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Track 4: EPSCoR Research Fellows (RII Track-4) grant from the NSF Office of Integrative Activities. ($300,000 for 2 years). This is a research fellowship grant that ‘provides opportunities for non-tenured investigators to further develop their individual research potential through extended collaborative visits to the nation’s premier private, governmental, or academic research centers’. Dr. Pathak’s proposal provides funding for collaborations with the Center for Integrated Nanotechnology (CINT) at Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM.

University of Nevada Reno: RESEARCHERS WHO GO WHERE KNOWLEDGE LEADS

January 2020,

Congratulations!!

Our work was recently featured in the University of Nevada Reno ‘s main webpage, which can be viewed at https://www.unr.edu/

Earlier UNR took an initiative to recognize some of the top researchers of the university and created “Go Where Knowledge Leads” which can be viewed at www.unr.edu/go.

Nevada Undergraduate Research Award (NURA)

January 2020

Congratulations! Shane(left), Noah (right),

Two undergraduate students from our group were selected for funding through the Nevada Undergraduate Research Award for Spring Semester 2020. The proposals funded were among 27  proposals out of 58 applied proposals.

News release on Army Research Office (ARO): University of Nevada Reno

December 2019,

Congratulations Dr Pathak!!

The news release on the ARO project can be found at Nevada Weekly

https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2019/sid-pathak-research?utm_source=newsletter121919&utm_medium=email&utm_content=nano&utm_campaign=NevadaWeekly

Dr. Sid Pathak, assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering, participated in collaborative research with the Colorado School of Mines.

News release on Army Research Office (ARO) grant: Colorado School Of Mines

November 2019

Congratulations on the ARO grant!!

The news release on the ARO project can be found at

https://www.minesnewsroom.com/news/designing-extra-tough-nanocomposite-materials-protective-coatings-armor

Garrett Tucker, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is collaborating with Dr. Sid Pathak of the University of Nevada Reno on the project, Designing extra-tough nanocomposite materials for protective coatings funded by the U.S. Army Research Office.

RESEARCHERS WHO GO WHERE KNOWLEDGE LEADS, University of Nevada Reno

November 2019

Our work was recently featured in our university’s “Go Where Knowledge Leads” top researcher portraits on the website, which can be viewed at www.unr.edu/go.

Dr. Pathak’s picture is the last one at the bottom. The background is the NASA International Space Station; we are currently working on a research project with the International Space Station. https://nasa.epscorspo.nevada.edu/-unr-awarded-nasa-funding//

2019 TMS, Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) conference held at Washington DC

November 2019

Dr. Pathak participated in the 2019 Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) conference held at Washington DC. Prof. Pathak was selected to represent TMS at the 2019 Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) Conference and be part of a cadre of over 60 leaders from a broad cross-section of the engineering community http://emergingleadersalliance.org/ https://www.tms.org/portal/P/

Award for “Best Experimental Approach”​ at IMECE(International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition) 2019

November 2019

Congratulations Soumya and Shane!!

Soumya Varma and Shane Johnson from our group have won the poster award for the best experimental approach category at IMECE 2019 conference hosted by ASME on the topic  “The Unique Microstructure and fracture properties of enamel in Hydrousarid Dinosaur”.

Technical presentation at International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition(IMECE 2019)

November 2019

Materials Advantage Club at MS&T 2019

October 2019

Materials Advantage Club UNR along with Prof.Pathak had actively participated and received various awards in MS&T 2019 conference.

Skye Spukul (left) and other senior design members have got Second Place Award of the 2019 Undergraduate Design Competition organized by ASM Materials Education Foundation and the Design Competition Committee, As the Second Place winner, the team will receive $1,500 plus up to $500 travel assistance.

Skye supukul has also got 3rd place in the undergraduate poster contest, on the topic of “Designing microscale response test to validate macroscale plastic response in Mg”.

Shane Johnson (top right), one of the undergraduate students has got 3rd place in Undergraduate Speaking Contest on the topic of “Bio-inspired Routes to Damage Tolerant Materials: The Unique Microstructure of Enamel in the Grinding Dentition of a Hadrosaurid Dinosaur”.

NSF BMMB (Biomechanics and Mechanobiology) Funding

Aug 2019

Congratulations!!

Dr.Pathak receives funding for the project “Understanding How Enamel Prism Lattices Promote a Remarkable Combination of Fracture and Wear Resistance in Grazing Mammal Dentitions” from NSF BMMB (Biomechanics and Mechanobiology).

The work is in collaboration with Brandon A. Krick (Lehigh University), and Gregory M. Erickson (Florida State University).

ASM Materials Education Foundation and the Design Competition Committee Award

August 2019

Congratulations Senior Design team 2019!

The senior design team has been selected to receive the Second Place Award of the 2019 Undergraduate Design Competition organized by ASM Materials Education Foundation and the Design Competition Committee, As the Second Place winner, the team will receive $1,500 plus up to $500 travel assistance to attend the MS&T ’19 in Portland, Oregon. Skye supukul from the team will be attending the MS&T’19’ conference

Work on pseudomorphic bcc Mg chosen as an Editor’s Pick in Journal of Applied Physics

August 2019,

Congratulations Manish Jain! The manuscript, authored by Manish Jain, Nenad Velisavljevic, J. Kevin Baldwin,Marko Knezevic, Nathan A. Mara, Irene J. Beyerlein, and Siddhartha Pathak, titled ‘Structure and Properties of Pseudomorphically Transformed bcc Mg in Mg/Nb Multilayered Nanolaminates studied using Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction’ Journal of Applied Physics (DOI: 10.1063/1.5097249), was chosen and is being promoted as an Editor’s Pick by the journal editors.

Material Advantage Chapter

Aug 2019

Fun day at Copper Gardens!!

Thanks to the Material advantage chapter UNR which organized a group trip to the Copper Gardens workshop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXX2OXGF7xw run by Mr.David Burns whose general area of interest and fabrication has been in outdoor items including gates, fountains, furniture, etc. We were trained on various tools that are used in making beautiful artifacts of copper followed by group dinner.

Ph.D. Graduation!

Aug 2019

Congratulations Manish Jain!!
Manish Jain is the first student from our group who graduated with the PhD his interest of study was on understanding the structure and properties of pseudomorphic bcc Mg. He will be working as Post Doctoral Researcher at EMPA https://www.empa.ch/web/empa/nanostructured-materials/ starting October 2019

NSF – Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) funding

July 2019

Congratulations!!

Prof. Pathak receives NSF – Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) funding. The INTERN funding will be used to support graduate students for internships at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) jointly operated by Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories (LANL and SNL).

TMS Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) Conference

July 2019

Congratulations!!
Prof.Pathak has been selected to represent TMS at the 2019 Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) Conference and be part of a cadre of over 60 leaders from a broad cross-section of the engineering community http://emergingleadersalliance.org/ https://www.tms.org/portal/P/

Poster presentation at Gorden Research Seminar (GRS) and Gorden Research Conference (GRC)

July 2019

Soumya Varma, Cayla Harvey, Anugraha(graduate students)and Prof.Pathak attended Gorden Research Seminar and Gorden Research Conference. The Graduate students presented a poster on the following topics.
•Soumya Varma – Stress-Strain Response From Spherical Nanoindentation and Micro-compression Tests: A comparative study.
• Cayla Harvey – Understanding the Omega Phase Mechanical Properties of Titanium and Zirconium Through Spherical Nanoindentation and EBSD
• Anugraha -Structure and properties of pseudomorphic bcc Mg under extreme conditions.

Nevada Space grant press release

July 2019

Congratulations!
Prof.Pathak’s NASA space grant has featured in Nevada space news release. https://nasa.epscorspo.nevada.edu/-unr-awarded-nasa-funding//

Shane Johnson -MS&T Material Advantage Chapter Travel Grant

July 2019

Congratulations Shane!
UNR Materials advantage chapter,has been awarded MS&T Material Advantage Chapter Travel Grant. Shane Johnson will be attending the MS&T conference.

Technical presentation at Society of Experimental Mechanics(SEM)

June 2019

Soumya Varma and Skye supakul graduate students from our group gave a technical presentation at the Society of Experimental Mechanics (SEM) on
• Soumya Varma – Stress-Strain Response From Spherical Nanoindentation and Micro-compression Tests: A comparative study and
• Sky Supakul – Designing  microscale response test to validate macroscale plastic response in Mg.

NASA Selects Physical Sciences Proposals to Provide New Insights from Openly Available Data

June 2019

Congratulations!!
Prof. Pathak has received funding from the https://psi.nasa.gov/ NASA’s Physical Sciences Research Program in response to the research announcement “Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System – Appendix E,” which solicited proposals from established researchers and graduate students. The work is on ‘Understanding the Local Structure-Property Relationships of Solders in Terrestrial vs. Microgravity Environments”.
Read the NASA press release https://nasa.epscorspo.nevada.edu/

2019 DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA)

June 2019

Congratulations!!
Prof. Pathak is a co-recipient of the 2019 DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) in collaboration with Reginald Hamilton, associate professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State University for research proposal titled “Additive Manufacturing of Functional Hierarchical Shape Memory Alloy Structures.”

Faces of the Pack – Nevada Today

May 2019

Congratulations Cayla Harvey!

Cayla Harvey was featured in Nevada Today in “Faces of the Pack” for her prestigious fellowships and scholarships. Materials engineering and science program helps Cayla Harvey travel and conduct groundbreaking research

https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2019/faces-of-the-pack-cayla-harvey

Lab Group – Spring Celebration 2019

May 2019

Our group was heavily featured in the spring celebration held on 7th of May 2019 at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Cayla Harvey – NSF GRFP honorary mention

April 2019

Honorable Mention,
The NSF accords Honorable Mention to meritorious applicants who do not receive Fellowship awards. This is considered a significant national academic achievement.

Yi Teng Lee – Job update

March 2019

Yi Teng Lee one of the undergraduate students in our lab has been offered a job at ExxonMobil as a chemical engineer.

Yi Teng Lee – one of the semi-finalists in Madani-Gordaninejad Speech Competition

March 2019

Yi Teng Lee one of the undergraduate students in our lab has been selected as one of the semi-finalists in Madani-Gordaninejad speech competition.

Cayla Harvey-NEUP Scholarship

March 2019

Cayla Harvey has been awarded a prestigious NEUP Research Scholarship 2019,she has been selected to receive a three-year, $155,000 fellowship to support her graduate studies and research.

Cayla Harvey-ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship

February 2019

Cayla Harvey has been awarded a prestigious ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship 2019 for her stay in Switzerland. She will be doing her research work at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) in Switzerland. ThinkSwiss is an official scholarship program managed by the Office of Science, Technology, and Higher Education at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C. The Grant is for $4950.

Manish Jain-Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research

January 2019

Congratulations!

Sigma Xi’s Committee on Grants-in-Aid of Research has approved Manish Jain’s research grant proposal submitted for the October 1, 2018 application cycle.

Soumya Varma-GSA Research Grant

January 2019

Soumya Varma has been awarded $1250 in funding towards her proposed research on studying the nanomechanical properties of Hadrosaurid enamel by the Graduate Student Association at the University of Nevada Reno.

Students’ Association for Alumni Relations (SAAR) – IIT-Patna, India held a webinar with Dr. Pathak

Oct 2018

SAAR as a new approach for open discussions with important personalities from Academia and Industry decided to hold a session with Dr. Pathak, faculty of the University of Nevada on the theme of higher education status through live video interaction.
The interaction enabled the aspirants to clear their doubts and queries regarding their academic direction. Dr. Pathak also extended a kind gesture towards the IIT Patna student fraternity as he offered to provide internships (the interested can mail him directly) where the expenses in the U.S. would be paid by him and the transportation fee would have to be paid by the intern himself/herself.

Ready for experiments!! Bruker’s Hysitron PI-85 Picoindenter

Oct 2018

Another much awaited instrument in the lab – Bruker’s Hysitron Picoindenter, a new in-situ depth sensing nanomechanical test system designed to work in conjunction with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is ready for experiments.
The PI 88 mounts easily to various SEM stages without being a permanent fixture in the microscope. As such the PI 88 can be mounted to any of the two SEM systems available currently available at UNR (JSM-7100FT FESEM and Hitachi S4700 SEM).

Nominated member for CINT

August 2018

Congratulations!!
Prof. Pathak is nominated as a member, 2018 Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) – Sandia National Laboratory (SNL). Users Executive Committee (UEC). (2018 – 2021).

Ready for experiments!! Bruker’s Hysitron TI 900 Triboindenter

August 2018

Another much awaited instrument in the lab – Bruker’s Hysitron Triboindenter, with dynamic testing as well as ultra-fast indentation mapping capabilities is now installed and ready for experiments.
The Hysitron Triboindenter is an automated, high throughput instrument that supports numerous nanomechanical and nanotribological characterization techniques. It incorporates the powerful performech® II Advanced Control Module, which greatly improves the precision of feedback-controlled nanomechanical testing and offers unprecedented measurement sensitivity and noise floor performance.

Prof. Pathak receives NSF funding

Aug 2018

Congratulations!!
Prof. Pathak has received funding from NSF for Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research for his proposal titled “EAGER: Engineering Metal-MAX Multilayered Nanocomposites: Hierarchical Microstructures for Tunable Strength and Toughness”. PI team: S Pathak (University of Nevada, Reno), G Tucker (Colorado School of Mines).

Nevada Space Grant-Graduate Research Felloship awarded to Ms. Cayla Harvey

July 2018

Congratulations!!
Ms. Cayla Harvey was awarded the Nevada Space Grant – Graduate Research Opportunity Fellowship for the project of Understanding the Local Structure-Property Relationships of Solders in Terrestrial vs. Microgravity Environments using Electron Microscopy and Nano-mechanical Testing. The nano-mechanical response of solders in terrestrial vs. microgravity environments will be determined using specialized nano-mechanical testing techniques, which include compression and tensile experiments that use focused ion beam (FIB)-fabricated micro-pillars. The fellowship provides $18,000 for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Prof. Pathak receives FY18 NEUP infrastructure funding

June 2018

Congratulations!!
Prof. Pathak has received funding from the FY 2018 Scientific Infrastructure Support for Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research for his proposal titled “Infrastructure Support for In-Situ High-Temperature Dynamic Nanomechanical Testing System for Mechanical Testing of Irradiated Structural Materials at University of Nevada, Reno”.

Manish Jain and Prof Pathak publish an invited feature paper in Journal of Materials Research

June 2018

M. Ardeljan, M. Knezevic, M. Jain, S. Pathak, A. Kumar, N. Li, N.A. Mara, J.K. Baldwin, I.J. Beyerlein,Room temperature deformation mechanisms of Mg/Nb nanolayered composites, Journal of Materials Research 33(10) (2018) 1311-1332.

Prof Pathak receives Air Force funding-$805,000

June 2018

Title:Biomechanics of Hierarchically-Structured Enamel in Grinding Dentitions: An Evolutionary-Guided Route to Designing Damage Tolerant Materials

PI team: S Pathak (University of Nevada, Reno), BA Krick (Lehigh University), GM Erickson (Florida State University)

This proposal is built on a highly collaborative approach between the three universities – University of Nevada, Reno, Lehigh University and Florida State University – and it brings together a diverse team of senior and junior researchers including a materials scientist, a tribologist and a functional evolutionary biologist (with a background in engineering) whose unique collective expertise will allow the tackling of this transformative integrative research.
We are looking for engineers and/or biology students to join this project. Contact us with your resumes!

Melanie Michael-Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium (NVSGC) Undergrduate Scholarship

May 2018

The Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium (NVSGC) has recently completed the review process for the Undergraduate Scholarship Program competition and has decided to give Ms. Melanie Michel the award. This was a merit based competition and she was selected due to her outstanding scholastic achievement, demonstrated interest in a career in science and/or aerospace and the quality of the proposed research project.
The award provides a $4,000 scholarship to be awarded for the fall and spring 2018/2019 semesters.

Ready for experiments!! FIB-SEM with EDS/EBSD detectors

May 2018

The Focussed ion beam-scanning eletron microscope with the addition of new EDAX’s EDS and EBSD detetors is now fully equipped and ready to use for the experiments.

Manish Jain-GSA Spring 2018 Research Grant Award

April 2018

Manish Jain was one of the recepients of the GSA’s spring 2018 Research Grant Awards. He has been awarded $2000 to spend towards the research project during 2018-19 academic year.

Manish Jain-International Activities Grant – 2018 Graduate Student Award

April 2018

The International Activities Grant program committee of UNR has recommended that Manish’s project entitled “Understanding the Deformation Response of Mg/Nb Multilayered Nanocomposites—a Collaborative Enterprise between UNR and EMPA, Switzerland” be funded in the amount of $1000.

Manish Jain-Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition 2018

March 2018

Manish Jain and his team Wave Motors reached the finals of Sontag competion. Manish’s Team was one of the five finalists out of 54 teams. They pitched their business idea in the finals on April 28, 2018 and were awarded 3rd place in Sontag Pitch award.

Cayla Harvey TMS SMD Scholarship

March 2018

Ms. Cayla Harvey was awarded The Metal, Minerals, and Materials Society (TMS) Structural Materials Division (SMD) Scholarship. As an award recipient, she received $2,500. This scholarship was awarded at the TMS 2018 Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona.

Soumya Varma- 3 Minute Thesis Competition

March 2018

Ms.Soumya Varma had advanced to the final round of 3 Minute Thesis competition held at the University of Nevada Reno on March 26, 2018. As one of the finalists, she has received a sum of $300.

Cayla Harvey- TU Dresden Research Internship

March 2018

Ms. Cayla Harvey was awarded a summer research internship at the Technische Universität Dresden in Dresden, Germany. She will intern in the department for Materials Science and Nanotechnology this summer (June-August).

Manish Jain-ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship

February 2018

Manish Jain has been awarded a prestigious ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship 2018 for his stay in Switzerland for 3 months period. He will be doing his research work at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) in Switzerland. ThinkSwiss is an official scholarship program managed by the Office of Science, Technology, and Higher Education at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C. The Grant is for $4950.

Cayla Harvey- Los Alamos National Laboratory

January 2018

Ms. Cayla Harvey returned to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) during her winter break to continue microstructural characterization and spherical nanoindentation experiments started in Summer 2017.

Nanoindenter XP Added to Pathak’s Lab

November, 2017

TMS 2017 Student Travel Grant

December, 2017

Prof. Pathak Presentation at ICOTOM

November 2017

Prof. Pathak presented Strong, Ductile, and Thermally Stable Mg-Nb Nanolaminates work at 18th International Conference on Textures of Materials (ICOTOM-18) in November 2017. Contributors from UNR include graduate student Mr. Manish Jain.

Cayla Harvey- ASME IMECE NSF Poster Competition

November 2017

Ms. Cayla Harvey presented a poster in the NSF Poster Competion about her research on the viscoelasticity and high buckling stress of dense carbon nanotubes at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2017 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in November 2017.

Poster Presentations at UNR Distinguished Lecture Series

September 2017

Ms. Cayla Harvey and Souyma Varma presented posters at the College of Engineering’s Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Prof. Pathak Presentation- 18th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems

August 2017

Prof. Pathak gave an oral presentation titled “Probing nanoscale damage gradients in irradiated materials with spherical nanoindentation” at the 18th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems – Water Reactors August 13–17, 2017 in Portland, Oregon.

Cayla Harvey- Los Alamos National Laboratory

Summer 2017

Ms. Cayla Harvey presented a poster about her research on the viscoelasticity and high buckling stress of dense carbon nanotubes at the Los Alamos National Laboraroty Annual Student Symposium in August 2017.

Soumya Varma- Los Alamos National Laboratory

Summer 2017

This summer at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Ms. Soumya Varma will be working with Dr Nathan Mara’s group on an approach to extract meaningful indentation stress-strain curves for irradiated materials. In the Centre for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), a nanoscience research facility of LANL, the research group will be conducting Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Electron Back -Scattered Diffraction (EBSD) testing on the sample surface before and after irradiation. For nanoindentation, the group would like to extend their understanding of spherical nanoindentation to a hexagonal closed pack system, namely Zirconium in irradiated state.

Manish Jain- Los Alamos National Laboratory

Summer 2017

Mr. Jain will work at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnology (CINT) in Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) during the 2017 summer (June-August). With Dr. Nathan Mara’s group, he will continue a project he started in summer 2016. Mr. Jain will be involved in physical vapor deposition (PVD) synthesis of the Mg/Nb multilayer nanocomposites and the fabrication of Mg/Nb multilayered micro-pillar samples using Focused Ion Beam (FIB). These micro-pillar samples will be tested using in-situ micro compression testing and nanoindentation. Micro-compression testing of each configuration will give detailed information about the deformation behavior, as well as the elastic and plastic anisotropy of the Mg structure.

Cayla Harvey TMS SMD Scholarship

June, 2017

Cody Falconer Research Assistantship

May, 2017

Cody Falconer Outstanding Senior Award

May, 2017

Cayla Harvey Nevada Undergraduate Research Award

May, 2017

Cayla Harvey Poster Presentation at the Nevada Undergraduate Research Symposium

May, 2017

Manish Jain Presentation at TMS 2017

March, 2017

Young Leaders Professional Development Award from TMS 2017

March, 2017