Nuclear Materials and Metallurgy Group

 Julie D. Tucker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Director of the Materials Science Interdisciplinary Program

Bio:

Dr. Tucker earned her B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Missouri – Rolla. She attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin – Madison as a Naval Nuclear Propulsion Fellow, where she received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering with a minor in Materials Science in 2008. After graduation, Dr. Tucker spent five years as a Principal Scientist at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY studying the thermal stability of structural alloys for nuclear power systems. She joined the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University as an Assistant Professor in 2013 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019 and Professor in 2023. Dr. Tucker served as the Materials Science Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Director from 2019-2024 and is now the Academic Director for the Design for Social Impact Program. 

Degrees:

B.S. in Nuclear Engineering, University of Missouri – Rolla

M.S., Nuclear Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Ph.D., Nuclear Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Hometown: Pleasant Hill, MO

 Benjamin Adam, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor

Bio:

Dr. Benjamin Adam is an Assistant Research Professor at Oregon State University (OSU) and has 8 years of experience in physical, mechanical, and welding metallurgy of advanced structural alloys, particularly steels and Ni-base superalloys, in both industrial and academic environments. His expertise lies in hot deformation behavior and microstructural evolution, towards understanding process-structure-property relationships. He has extensive hands-on knowledge in operation of thermo-mechanical test systems, weld metallography/testing, advanced electron microscopy characterization techniques, and CALPHAD and FE-based deformation modeling. He has served as a PI for various industry- and federally sponsored projects on large-scale manufacturing and welding, LA-WAAM using CMT and tandem GMAW systems, as well as alloy development and manufacturing.

Degrees:

Dipl.Ing. (M.Sc.) in Metallurgical Engineering and Material Science, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Ph.D., Material Science, Oregon State University

Metals Manufacturing Research Lab

Graham Tewksbury, Ph.D.

Associate Research Professor

Bio:

Dr. Graham Tewksbury is an Associate Research Professor at Oregon State University. His work in industry was focused on the development and production of a range of cast and powder alloys. Dr. Tewksbury’s technical specialties include metal additive manufacturing, structure/property/processing relationships of Ni-based super-alloys, steels, nonferrous alloys, tribology, precious metal alloys, casting, powder metallurgy, metallurgical characterization and failure analysis.

Degrees:

B.A. in Chemistry, Lawrence University

Ph.D., Material Science and Engineering, Oregon Graduate Institute

Metals Manufacturing Research Lab

Luanne Rolly, Ph.D.

Laboratory Manager

Bio:

Retired from HP, Inc after 27 years in R&D and Manufacturing Development.

I work part-time supporting the Nuclear Materials and Metallurgy group as a lab manager, focusing on isothermal aging studies, documentation and quality processes. 

Keywords:

Isothermal aging, arc melting alloy development, temperature measurement, statistical process control, process documentation

Degrees:

Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, University of Oregon

Elliott Clement

Graduate Research Assistant

Ph.D. Materials Science

Bio:

My current research is in Engineering Education studying the factors impacting the design process of engineering students in capstone projects. We are looking for ways to make these projects more relevant to industry standards and more engaging for students across disciplines.

I studied Chemistry in Lyon, France where I grew up and came to OSU for my Masters in Materials Science in 2017. After graduation, I worked for 3 years in the Materials development labs at HP. I came back to OSU to do research in Education.

Degrees:

B.S in Chemistry, Claude Bernard University, Lyon, 2017

M.S in Materials Science, OSU, 2019

Hometown: Lyon, France

Melissa Penyai

Graduate Teaching Assistant

M.S. Materials Science

Bio:

Melissa attended African Science Academy, for an accelerated A level program. She then studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering with a minor in Power Systems at Academic City University College in Ghana. She has recently joined the team as a first-year graduate student and will be working with Dr. Julie Tucker.

Degrees: B.Sc. Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Hometown: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Thomas Wood

Graduate Teaching Assistant

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Bio:

I have worked in many fields, including several years as a machine operator in a steel factory, and in construction. In 2016 I came to OSU for my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering. In that time, I worked in the NMM with several graduate students on their projects. In 2021 I returned for my MS in Mechanical Engineering, focused on Material Mechanics. I currently work on a project characterizing the fracture mechanisms of niobium C103 in low to moderate temperatures using modified Bridgman tensile samples to induce a triaxial stress state, and brittle failure.

Keywords:

Crystallographic polishing, Machining, Micro-hardness testing, Wire EDM

Degrees:

B.A., Archeology, Oregon State University 2014

B.A., History, Oregon State University 2014

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Oregon State University, 2020

Hometown: Ashland, OR

Awards: Eagle Scout, AIST Steel Scholar Intern

Adam Koziol

Graduate Research Assistant

Ph.D. Materials Science

Bio: 

Adam Koziol attended UC Riverside from 2016-2020 for his undergraduate degree, studying Materials Science and Engineering. He previously worked on characterizing how manufacturing parameters impact nuclear fuel quality using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, as well as atom probe tomography. Currently, Adam works on microstructural characterization of thermally aged steels intended for use as structural materials in sodium reactors. 

Keywords: 

Microscopy, Microstructural characterization

Degrees:

B.S Materials Science and Engineering, University of California-Riverside, 2020

Hometown: Sonoma, CA

Xavier Quintana

Graduate Research Assistant

M.S./Ph.D. Materials Science

Bio:

My research investigates environmentally assisted cracking of structural materials in molten salt. Stainless steel is susceptible to corrosion due to the enhanced kinetics and thermodynamics of the ionic liquid. The goal of this research is to investigate the mechanical failure of stainless steels in the molten salt environment and study how the change in redox potential affects its corrosivity. Mechanical testing of the sample in the salt with in-situ monitoring and electrochemical techniques are used to probe the corrosivity of the salt.

Keywords:

SEM, XRD, Spectroscopy, Molten salt, Electrochemistry, Crack Growth, Corrosion, Mechanical testing

Awards: GEM Fellow & Idaho National Lab intern

Degrees:

B.S in Physics, Florida State University, 2020

Hometown: Vallejo, CA

Scott Bozeman

Graduate Research Assistant

Ph.D., Materials Science

Bio:

My primary research motivation is integrating novel materials and manufacturing methods into nuclear power applications to meet the energy demands of the 21^st century.  I am particularly interested in studying and applying alloys fabricated by additive manufacturing, as the nuclear industry has an established expertise with welding and other non-equilibrium solidification processing.

In my research, we are cladding stainless steel onto carbon steel with a laser-based additive manufacturing process, similar to the arc welded reactor pressure vessel claddings currently used in light water reactors.  We have characterized the cladding microstructures by their composition, phase(s), solidification mode, local mechanical behavior, and corrosion performance with experimental and CALPHAD-based methods.  Soon, we will be determining their corrosion behavior before and after proton irradiation to evaluate material performance for in-core components.

In the future, we plan to functionally grade the claddings, gradually changing in composition from carbon steel to stainless steel.  Functional gradation has the potential to increase galvanic corrosion resistance and radiation damage tolerance due to the lowered concentration gradient of the dissimilar metal couple.

Keywords: 

Metallurgy, Additive manufacturing, Nanoindentation, Corrosion, Stainless steel, Nuclear materials

Degrees:

M.S., Materials Science, Oregon State University, 2022

B.S., Materials Engineering, Auburn University, 2019

Hometown: Huntsville, AL

Peter Beck

LANL Student Employee

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering

Bio:

Peter Beck earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State in 2019. He then stayed to work in Dr. Tucker’s lab for graduate school and earned his M.S. in 2022 while developing a high-pressure, high-temperature gaseous test system to investigate environmentally assisted cracking of steel in supercritical CO₂. Currently a Ph.D. student in Dr. Tucker’s lab, he is located at Los Alamos National Laboratory and is exploring a gaugeless ring pull test to measure the mechanical behavior of nuclear fuel cladding. He is involved in the modeling of the ring pull test using MOOSE, an open-source, finite element solver, which is coupled with digital image correlation to experimentally map the strain fields across the ring during testing. His research interests include integration of modeling and experiments, large strain continuum mechanics, and finite element solvers for solid mechanics problems.

Degrees:

M.S., Materials Science, Oregon State University, 2022

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Oregon State University, 2019

Hometown: Martinez, CA

Awards: NEUP Fellow

Nutnicha “Kate” Nigon

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Ph.D. Materials Science

Bio:

My name is Nutnicha (Teng-amnuay) Nigon, and I go by Kate. I’m Thai from Thailand. After finished with my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, I worked at the Electrical Generating Authority of Thailand for 3.5 years as a failure analysis engineer. I came to the States in Fall 2018 at OSU for a PhD student in Materials Science with a minor in Education. Working with Professor Julie Tucker and Professor Milo Koretsky, I am developing and utilizing materials science conceptual questions and the Adaptive Learning Module to help identify students’ misconceptions and individually support students to learn based on their performances. Currently I live in WA with my husband, Greg (graduated MS MatSci from OSU in 2020), and an Olde English Bulldogge puppy named Frog!

Keywords: Instructional design, Conceptual learning, Adaptive learning system, Online learning, Hands-on learning, Materials science and engineering, Education, Crystallography

Degrees:

M.Eng. Metallurgical Engineering, Chulalongkorn University – Bangkok, Thailand, 2014

B.Eng. Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Chulalongkorn University – Bangkok, Thailand, 2010

Hometown: Bangkok, Thailand

Awards: Ecampus Research Fellow 2021, MIME 2020-2021 Outstanding Graduate Assistant

Nicolas Aerne

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering

Bio:

Nicholas Aerne has been a beaver fan since 2005. From 2011-2015 he was a bowman for the Oregon State University’s Men’s rowing program while completing his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. Delaying admission to graduate school to Winter term 2016 to complete an internship at E&J Gallo, where he was on the winery operations team in Sonoma, Ca, and received training as a lean practitioner. His Master’s thesis also at Oregon State University, was granted in Spring 2018 and involved mechanical characterization of adhesives at various temperatures in the Prototype Development Laboratory presenting this work at IMECE 2016, 2017, and 2018. 

In Spring 2018 he joined the NMM laboratory where he is working on his dissertation involving research on Ni-based alloy. In June 2019 he travelled as a guest to Brookhaven National Laboratory to assist research at the National Synchrotron light source -II at beamline 28-ID-2. In Summer 2020 he was accepted to the 2020 National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering hosted by Argon National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In June 2021 he passed his Preliminary Exam. He has presented his research on Ni-based alloys at Environmental Degradation of materials in nuclear power systems – water reactors 2019, MST 2019, and TMS 2021. He has also been an instructor of record for ENGR 213, strength of materials, for both on-campus and eCampus formats. In his spare time, he has been either head referee or table referee for the Oregon FIRST LEGO League Tournament in Corvallis: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, & 2021. Go Beavs!

Keywords: Material mechanics, Mechanical properties, Microstructural characterization, Tensile testing, Hardness testing, X-ray diffraction, Adhesives, Ni-based alloys, Machining, Design, Build, Prototype

Degrees:

M.S. Mechanical Engineering - Material Mechanics, Oregon State University, 2018

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Oregon State University, 2015

Hometown: Hillsboro, OR

Jesse Contreras

Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Bio:

I began attending Oregon State University in 2020, where I am currently pursuing an Honors Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. I am also pursuing minors in both Mathematics and Actuarial Science. Prior to my Undergraduate Research Assistant position in this lab, I've primarily done work involving data (collection, analysis, presentation) and sustainability. As of now, my work here has involved some wire EDM cutting (in aid of the graduate students), but I am eager to learn and expand my skill set throughout the year. Furthermore, I am hopeful that I will be conducting my Honor’s Thesis project with Dr. Tucker.

Joshua Yandoc

Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Bio:

Joshua Yandoc attended UC Santa Cruz in 2017 for his undergrad in computer science before transferring to OSU in 2019 and switching his focus to mechanical engineering with a minor in aerospace engineering. As an undergraduate research assistant, his tasks primarily consist of helping the graduate students with smaller-scale jobs ranging from polishing samples and machining small parts all the way to using a CNC Wire EDM to cut treated samples.