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Advanced Materials Sciences

As our scientists develop the building blocks for tomorrow’s devices and technologies, their discoveries will transform fields as wide ranging as energy production, computing and information technologies, and transportation systems.


Governor’s Chair for Advanced and Nanostructured Materials  


The Governor’s Chair for Advanced Manufacturing is Suresh Babu, a materials scientist who explores the production, design, and performance of transforming materials into parts.


The Governor’s Chair in Polymer Science is Alexei Sokolov. His work in polymers involves fabricating large molecules atom by atom in an effort to control their properties and create substances with useful characteristics.


As the Governor’s Chair for Advanced Composites Manufacturing, Uday Vaidya is an expert on fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites.


The Governor’s Chair of Computational Nuclear Engineering is Brian Wirth, an authority in the ways materials behave in extreme environments.


As the Governor’s Chair for Electrical Energy Conversion and Storage, Thomas Zawodzinski focuses on ways to make fuel cells and other energy storage technologies more durable over time.


The Governor’s Chair for Nuclear Materials is Steve Zinkle, who investigates the effect of radiation on materials in fission and fusion nuclear reactors.

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