ME Seminar on "Advanced Materials for Extreme Thermomechanical Environments"

Tresa Pollock Portrait

Date: 

Monday, February 23, 2015 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm

Location: 

ESB 1001

Speaker: 

Dr. Tresa Pollock, Alcoa Professor & Chair, UC Santa Barbara Materials Department

Abstract:
Advances in the performance and efficiency of aircraft and power-generation turbines, rocket engines, fuel cells and nuclear power plants have long been dependent on advances in materials that can operate reliably in the extreme mechanical, chemical and thermal loading conditions in these environments. Historically, the lack of an integrated predictive tool set for design and property prediction has resulted in iterative and expensive experimental approaches for the discovery of new materials.  Some new computational and experimental approaches to the discovery and design of new materials for severe environments will be presented, along with some examples of new emerging materials.  The complementary role of high-throughput experiments, ab-initio models, thermodynamic assessments and mechanical property models in design of multicomponent systems is considered.   Needs and opportunities for further acceleration of the design process for new materials will be discussed.

Bio:
Tresa Pollock is the Alcoa Professor of Materials and Department Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  She graduated with a B.S. from Purdue University in 1984, and a Ph.D. from MIT in 1989.  Dr. Pollock was employed at General Electric Aircraft Engines from 1989 to 1991, where she conducted research and development on high temperature alloys for aircraft turbine engines.  She was a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University from 1991 to 1999 and the University of Michigan from 2000 - 2010.  Her current research focuses on the processing and properties of structural materials and coatings and on the use of ultrafast lasers for microfabrication and materials diagnostics.  Professor Pollock was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2005, is a Fellow of TMS and ASM International, Associate Editor of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions and was the 2005-2006 President of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.

Event Type: 

Seminar