Experience

• 

  Boise State University

  • United States
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Assistant Professor

    • Aug 2018 - Present

    As a research active professor of materials science and engineering at Boise State University, I have the unique opportunity to teach, innovate, collaborate, mentor, train, and provide opportunities to students who may not be afforded the chance otherwise. I teach courses in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering on fundamental materials science, materials processing, nuclear materials, X-ray diffraction, and mechanical properties of materials to students at the undergraduate and graduate level. In addition to teaching in the classroom, I get the chance to perform research with, and mentor, high school students, undergraduate students, graduate students, visiting researchers, and research staff on fascinating materials research endeavors in my Advanced Materials Laboratory. I emphasize the opportunities to promote and facilitate collaborations with my peers at Boise State, throughout Idaho, the northwest, and beyond. My research is largely related to materials for extreme environments; in other words, we are pushing the current known limits of materials to innovate, accelerate, and understand their behavior for novel applications. According, my research involves the development, testing, and characterization of: Nuclear fuels, cladding, and structural materials for nuclear reactors, materials and processes for novel sensing applications (e.g. in-situ sensors for in-reactor core applications), materials development for advanced and additive manufacturing, reaction kinetics of gas-solid systems, mechanochemistry, as well as thermophysical and mechanical properties of materials. Regardless of the challenge of the day, I get the opportunity to work with amazing, bright-minded, and innovative colleagues, collaborators, students, and staff every day!

  • Assistant Research Professor

    • Sep 2016 - Jul 2019

    Director and manager of the Advanced Materials Laboratory in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering. Research interests are primarily related to materials for extreme environments, energy materials, and nuclear enabling technologies, including: nuclear fuel synthesis, sintering, and performance testing, gas-solid reaction kinetics, mechanochemistry, particle science/powder synthesis, sensor design, and mechanical behaviors of materials.

  • Senior Research Engineer

    • Apr 2015 - Sep 2016

  • Research Engineer

    • May 2008 - Apr 2015

    Advanced Materials Laboratory Co-ManagerCommunicate research to the scientific community through peer reviewed journal publications, technical conference presentations, and poster presentationsPerform research in the Advanced Materials Laboratory, including multiple research projects such as: - Sensor suite development for monitoring the conditions of spent nuclear fuel dry storage containers - Development of advanced high uranium density fuels for LWRs (oxides, nitrides, silicides) - Synthesis and optimization of the sintering kinetics of lanthanide and actinide nitrides - Development of miniature mechanical testing techniques to assess mechanical properties of irradiated materials - Development of fabricating iron-based oxide dispersion strengthened alloys using mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering - Welding studies on oxide dispersion strengthened nuclear fuel cladding materials - Hydrothermal corrosion studies of silicon nitride spheres - Oxidation kinetics studies on rare-earth and actinide pure elements, nitrides, and silicides - Nuclear oxide fuel fabrication using spark plasma sintering consolidation techniques - Microstructural characterization and mechanical testing of silicon carbide micro-fibers

  • X-Ray Diffraction Engineer

    • May 2008 - Jun 2012

    - Coordinate and provide service and maintenance on a Bruker D8 Discover X-ray diffractometer (XRD)- Provide technical support to faculty, staff, students, and external users- Configure diffractometer for customer's specific needs- Provide training on the diffractometer- Provide guidance on proper characterization techniques, experimental setup, and sample preparation- Complete remittance work for external customers and provided complete characterization reports

  • Graduate Research Assistant

    • May 2006 - May 2008

    - Optimized and characterized powder synthesis and processing techniques- Redesigned a high temperature furnace for low pressure, corrosive gas capabilities- Teaching assistant for an undergraduate MSE course: Solid State Thermodynamics- Teaching assistant for a graduate MSE course: Survey of Materials Science

  • Undergraduate Research Assistant

    • Feb 2004 - May 2006

    - Developed processing techniques to fabricate MEMS in Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics- Created assembly and detail drawings for work-piece holding equipment and processing tools- Teaching assistant for an undergraduate engineering course: Introduction to Engineering

• 

  Nuclear Materials Consulting, LLC.

  • Co-Founder

    • Aug 2021 - Present

• 

  The center for advanced energy studies (CAES)

  • Nuclear Energy Focus Area Lead in Boise for CAES

    • Jul 2019 - 2022