Graduate Students

Katherine Brizzolara

Kate holds a M.S.E. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University (2021) and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park (2019). She joined the Hemker group in the fall of 2019. She works jointly with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. Her research focuses on structural ceramics.

Research Interests: Ceramic engineering, crystallography and structural determination, materials for extreme environments

Email: [email protected]


Catherine Barrie

Catherine received her B.S. in Materials Engineering from UCLA in 2020 and joined the Hemker research group as a Ph.D. student in the Materials Science Department in the fall of 2020. She received her masters degree from JHU in the fall of 2022. Her research supports a SURPASS project in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab project focused on functionalizing additively manufactured materials for high altitude flight.

Research Interests: Structural materials, materials degradation, composite materials, refractory metals, mechanical testing

Email: [email protected]


Michael Patullo

Michael graduated with a B.S. in Physics from Seton Hall University in 2018, where he performed research on thin film solar cells with his advisor and department chair, Dr. M. Alper Sahiner. For two years he worked at H&M Analytical Services as a staff scientist before joining the Hemker Lab in 2020, where he received his M.S.E in Mechanical Engineering in 2022. Michael’s research focuses on the ultrahigh temperature mechanical properties of refractory alloys.

Research Interests: Mechanical testing, materials for extreme environments, refractory multi-principal element alloys

Email: [email protected]


Sharon Park

Sharon graduated from the University of Central Florida (UCF) with degrees in Mechanical Engineering (B.S. ’19) and Materials Science (M.S. ’20). While at UCF, she worked with Prof. Yongho Sohn on process optimization studies for gas atomization and selective laser melting of aluminum alloys. Sharon joined the Hemker research group as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2020. Her research focuses on elucidating the structure-property relationships of novel additively manufactured refractory alloys, with a specialization in high-temperature mechanical testing.

Research Interests: Additive manufacturing (AM), powder metallurgy, refractory metals, mechanical testing

Email: [email protected]


Daniel Magnuson

Daniel graduated with Honors from UC Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2021. As an undergraduate, he worked on the design of experiments in Prof. Samantha Daly’s lab and helped set up/run a makerspace for the California NanoSystems Institute. He joined the Mechanical Engineering department as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2021. Daniel received his masters degree in spring of 2023.

Research Interests: Mechanical testing, deformation mechanisms, transmission electron microscopy, multi principal element alloys

Email: [email protected]


Jacob Aljundi

Jacob graduated from the University of Tennesse, Knoxville in 2018 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He works at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division where he performs research on process/property relationships in hybrid wire-arc additive manufacturing. He joined the Hemker research group as a Ph.D. student in the fall of 2022.

Research Interests: Hybrid metal AM, characterization, process/property relationships

Email: [email protected]


Maddy Selby

Maddy graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) with degrees in Mechanical Engineering (B.S. 2021, M.S. 2022). At UMBC, she investigated metal additive manufacturing repeatability through multiscale mechanical testing while working with Prof. Marc Zupan. Maddy joined the Hemker research group as a Ph. D. student in fall 2022.

Research Interests: Additive manufacturing, multi-scale mechanical testing, metals

Email: [email protected]


Anchen Tong

Anchen graduated Cum Laude from Northwestern University in 2023 with B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing and Design Engineering. At Northwestern, he worked with Prof. Jian Cao on developing experimental setups for in-situ x-ray imaging of laser directed energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing and Prof. Ping Guo on solid-state additive manufacturing and hyperspectral image thermometry for DED. He joined the Hemker Group as a Ph.D. student in fall 2023.

Research Interests: Metal additive manufacturing

Email: [email protected]


Zach Kutschke

Zach graduated with a B.S. (2021) and M.S. (2023) in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the Mechanosynthesis Group. He works at the Applied Physics Lab and began a Ph.D. in Fall 2024 working jointly across the Hemker Lab and Mueller Lab. 

Research Interests: Additive manufacturing, process/machine design

Email: [email protected]


Matthew Engquist

Matthew holds degrees in Materials Science from both UC Davis (B.S. 2020) and Cal State LA (M.S. 2024). Under the mentorship of Dr. Mohsen Eshraghi, his research at Cal State LA focused on microstructural characterization in LW-DED. Before coming to JHU in Fall 2024, Matthew worked at VACCO Industries as a Materials & Processes Engineer for 3 years where he supported fluid flow devices for NASA’s SLS rocket and commercial satellites.

Research Interests: Functionally Graded Materials, Additive Manufacturing, Failure Analysis, Space Technology Development & Implementation

Email: [email protected]


Jon Galati

Jon joined the aerospace industry after graduating from Ohio State with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2020. While working, he specialized in additive manufacturing process development. He joined Prof. Taheri and Prof. Hemker’s groups as a Ph.D. student in the Fall of 2024.

Research Interests: Alloy development, additive manufacturing

Email: [email protected]