• I am excited to be chairing the Master of Natural and Applied Science (MNAS) Interdisciplinary Program which is offered by the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS) at Missouri State University. The MNAS program gives a truly unique opportunity for our students to broaden and thus leverage the scope of their degree in any two disciplines; Biology, Computer Science, Chemistry, Geography, Geology and Planning (GGP), Mathematics or Physics, Astronomy, and Materials Science (PAMS). It is also well-suited for students who are interested in pursuing a career that combines science, technology, and industry. If you are currently an undergraduate student at Missouri State University, you may be able to also choose an accelerated option for the graduate program. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.

https://science.missouristate.edu/MNAS/default.htm

 

• We ended our Spring 2023 with a graduation ceremony for the Materials Science graduates. As a graduate program director, I am very proud of the fact that all six of our Master's graduates have accepted Ph.D. fellowship/GA offers at various research-active universities (R1/R2 institutions) across the US to start in this Fall'23. Five graduates pictured below with their respective Ph.D. school destinations (L to R): Shaihan Emon (U California - Davis), Ummay Honey (U. California - Merced), Marium Mostafiz Mou (North Carolina State), Rejeena Jha (U Arkansas - Fayetteville) and Nur Aziz Octoviawan (Washington U at St. Louis). Not pictured: Zia Uddin Mahmud (Michigan State). Faculty pictured: Drs. Robert Mayanovic (Dept. Head), Kartik Ghosh & myself. Very proud of our graduates. Wish them the very best!

 

• Rachel Lee presented the research work in applying AI to help model the chemical reactions in the Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) at our CNAS Undergraduate Day. The deposition process is fundamental to produce the Josephson Tunnel Junction, a key ingredient to Superconducting Quantum Bits (Qubits). She won a second price on the Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science category. Congrats!

 

• Big congratulations to our group members; Marium Mostafiz Mou and Nur Aziz Octoviawan for successfully defending their #AI-related Master’s theses respectively this week. Both have accepted graduate assistantship/fellowship offers to pursue #PhD in Materials Science at highly ranked #R1 research institutions in Fall’23; Mou is heading to North Carolina State University and Aziz is going to Washington University in St. Louis. Very proud of them !

• We finally have been able to set up a new Dept's Lambda GPU/AI workstation in Kemper Hall thanks to the help from our Physics and Materials Science students. Time to crank up the heat!!!

• Our group is all set for the 2023 APS March Meeting next year either in Las Vegas, NV or through virtual meeting. We are to present our latest collaborative works in AI-driven computational materials research:

• I am excited to serve as a coordinator of the Materials Science Graduate Program starting in Spring’23, to built on a solid foundation by previous Program Directors: Dr. Dave Cornelison and Dr. Kartik Ghosh. The program will continue highlighting our strength in interdisciplinary research & teaching.

Many of our MSc graduates continued to pursue their PhD degrees (mostly) in Materials Science at various research-intensive & highly ranked R-1 and R-2 universities. Ultimately, they are making important contributions to the high-tech workforce nationwide. We are very proud of our alumni. I look forward to continuing this tradition of excellence. #GoMaroon!

 

• Congratulations to our group member Matt Kindhart. He graduated with a BSc degree in Physics!

• 12/14/22: Our Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Science (CNAS) Dr. Tamera Jahnke stopped by today. I have been awarded an endowed Dr. Matthew & Patricia Harthcock CNAS Faculty Fellowship by the University starting January 1st, 2023. Feeling grateful and deeply honored. Pictured below with our Dept. Head Dr. Robert Mayanovic (left) and Dean Jahnke (right). Thank you!

• Excited to start my DOE-sponsored Summer'22 visiting faculty appointment the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory teaming up with UC Berkeley Prof. Kristin Persson's MachineLearning sub-group. The Lab has been home to many esteemed NobelPrize laureates and has a beautiful & panoramic view of UC-Berkeley campus & SanFrancisco Bay area. Let’s collaborate!

• Two of of our recent graduates, Devon and Tyler, first-authored and published their modeling works with the help of other group members. Devon's paper is on modeling Atomic Layer Deposition using ReaxFF potentials and Tyler's paper reports the development of Deep Learning potentials for a series of transition metal-based carbide systems. Congrats!

      

 

• Kicking off our group's research for the summer with Zoom-style Shiny Happy People ...

 

• Our end of Spring'22 group photo @PAMSatMSU @CNASatMSU @MissouriState . Devon, Emily, & Tyler graduated this semester. Devon & Emily completed their Master's degree in #materialsscience. Tyler finished his B.Sc in #Physics. Congratulations to all! #MarooNation

Top (L to R): Aziz, Devon, and idwan. Bottom (L to R): Gaige, Mou, Emily, and Tyler

• After a two-year hiatus, our graduate students @PAMSatMSU @CNASatMSU @MSUGradCollege @MissouriState and our family finally returned back to #volunteering for @ozksfoodharvest . Very proud of them. #Citizenbear

• Our group members Emily & Devon passed their Master’s thesis defense. Emily’s work is in modeling Atomic Layer Deposition via kinetic Monte Carlo & Machine Learning, whereas Devon’s applies the reactive force field. Congrats to both!

 

 

• Excited to rejoin #MachineLearning sub-group of Dr. Kristin Persson, the Director of Molecular Foundry Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering  at University of California, Berkeley in Summer'22 as a part of the DOE Visiting Faculty Program. One of our group members, a graduating senior undergraduate student Tyler will also join me as a student intern. #collaborationworks!

 

• Traveled to Chicago and our group (Aziz, Devon, Mou and Tyler) presented their works at the APS March Meeting 2022:

• Aziz presented (virtually) research in developing #DeepLearning -based potentials for high-entropy driven diborides at the International Conference on Advanced Ceramics & Composites. An NSF-supported collaboration between our group and the research groups of Prof. Fahrenholtz and Prof. Hilmas from the Missouri University of Science and Technology at Rolla, MO. Way to go Aziz!