AboutI am a first year PhD Materials Science and Engineering student at Texas A&M. I have an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering as a D3EM Fellow (Data-Enabled Discovery and Design of Energy Materials) at Texas A&M. I received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M with minors in materials science and physics, University Honors and Engineering Honors distinctions, and an Undergraduate Research Fellow obtained by completing the Undergraduate Research Scholar thesis (twice).
My research interests are in computational materials research, specifically in the areas of nanomaterials and their optical and electrical properties. My current research is on the nonlinear optical properties of 2D materials, as well as predicting new stable 2D materials. My previous research was on the intersection of 3D printing, polymers, and nanomaterials to facilitate stronger and electrically conductive 3D printed parts. |
I have professional experience at Eastman Chemical Company, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. At Eastman Chemical Company, I performed a failure analysis on a piece of equipment, using metallography and fractography to solve the mystery. I was trained on using a scanning electron microscope and optical microscope. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, I have used chemical vapor deposition to synthesis single layer nanomaterials and mechanical exfoliation to obtain single layer nanomaterials, as well. I am building and coding an instrument for characterizing nanomaterials (see picture) known as a scanning photocurrent microscope. At LBNL, I worked on applying a method (Wannier Koopman Method) to more accurately predict the band gap of materials to 2D material heterostructures.
Future Goals
My plans are to pursue a career in academia, investing in undergraduate and graduate students to expand the scope of human knowledge especially in the areas of 2D materials and semiconductor physics from a computational standpoint. I also have research interests in the areas of ethics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of physics. I have a blog on ethics here. In addition to my ongoing scientific research, I am working on a philosophical projects including a paper on a novel Christian ethical theory as well as an exploration and defense of finite theism.
For Fun
When I am not running calculations on material properties, you will likely catch me reading on a variety of topics (currently focused on philosophy of religion and ethics and the overlap), hiking, amateur mountain biking, or playing basketball.