From the MSE@UCI Chair
Dear Colleagues,
As the founding department chair for our young and ambitious Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE@UCI), I am proud and excited to share this inaugural newsletter with the community. The MSE department at UCI was established in 2018; since then, our department has expanded to include outstanding faculty recruitments, including Professors Stacy Copp, Will Bowman, Diran Apelian, David Kisailus and our most recent hire, Shen Dillon. We also are excited to have Jim Shackelford and Horst Hahn as visiting professors in the department. Martha Mecartney, one of our founding faculty, has recently retired and joined the emeritus ranks with our founding godfather, Farghalli Mohammed. Our MSE staff team is led by the amazing Amy Ricks and includes Desiree Rios, Katherine Guerrero, Viviana Saadalla, Darryl Mack and Yizhang Zhou. Their contributions to supporting the students and especially our new faculty hires are outstanding. Collectively, we are proud of the multiple centers that are led by MSE@UCI faculty, especially our recently funded NSF-MRSEC: Center for Complex and Active Materials (CCAM), led by Professor Xiaoqing Pan, and of the many accolades received by our faculty and students for their academic accomplishments. The MSE faculty, staff and students are also excited by the energy being brought to the Samueli School of Engineering by our new dean, Magnus Egerstedt. There are too many stories to share here, but please enjoy a few of the highlights below and follow us on our social media channels.
As we approach the end of 2021, I am grateful to be back on campus among my colleagues and staff, promoting research and scholarly work that push the boundaries of technology, contributing to the excellence of the Samueli School of Engineering and addressing the needs of society. I also look forward to more in-person professional society meetings, including TMS 2022, which will be held here in Orange County, in Anaheim, California. I look forward to seeing many of you there!
Wishing you well,
Julie M. Schoenung, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, MSE@UCI
Co-Director, WISDOM Institute, UCI
Fellow of NAI, TMS, ASM International, Alpha Sigma Mu, and the American Ceramic Society