Samuel Present

Sam graduated from Lehigh University with B.S. degrees in Materials Science & Engineering and Integrated Business & Engineering. Prior to joining the Hemker research group in 2018, he worked for two years as a materials engineer in the aerospace industry, where he performed failure analysis investigations and characterized the physical and mechanical properties of metallic and composite aerospace components. In Sam’s current research project in the Hemker lab, he collaborates with the NASA Langley Research Center and GE Research to study the fatigue performance of DMLM Ti-6Al-4V with respect to surface defects and underlying microstructure. Previous projects include characterizing the unique as-deposited microstructures and mechanical response of ultra-large-scale wire-DED components (NASA EBF3), and the size effects of thin-wall DMLM Inconel 718 with respect to static and fatigue performance.
Research Interests: Metals, mechanical properties, fatigue, structural materials, aerospace
Email: [email protected]
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. Her research will support a Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab project focused on high temperature structural materials.
Research Interests: Structural materials, characterizing processing and property relationships, composite materials, mechanical testing
Email: [email protected]
Michael Patullo

Michael graduated Magna Cum Laude from Seton Hall University with a B.S. in Physics in the fall of 2018, where he performed research on thin film solar cells with his advisor and department chair, Dr. M. Alper Sahiner. During the end of his time as an undergraduate and through the summer of 2020, he worked at H&M Analytical Services in Cream Ridge, NJ as a staff scientist. He joined the Hemker research group as a Ph.D. student in fall 2020.
Research Interests: Materials characterization, materials for extreme environments
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 metallic alloys. Sharon joined the Hemker research group as a Ph.D. student in fall 2020.
Research Interests: Additive manufacturing (AM), powder metallurgy, metals, advanced characterization
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.
Research Interests: Mechanical testing, structural materials, fatigue behavior of materials, deformation mechanisms
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]