Thomas Varnish
Thomas Varnish is a PhD candidate whose research interests are focused on the study of plasma physics, which underpins fascinating astrophysical phenomena such as solar flares, black hole accretion disks, and pulsar magnetospheres. Specifically, Thomas studies a process called magnetic reconnection, an explosive reconfiguration of magnetic field topology in plasma that rapidly dissipates magnetic energy by heating and accelerating it. Supported by a MathWorks Fellowship, Thomas will investiga ...
Richard Ibekwe
Richard Ibekwe is a PhD candidate whose research explores the behavior of defects in large- scale high-temperature superconducting magnets for fusion energy applications. A MathWorks Fellowship will enable Richard to pursue a highly innovative project that examines these defects from a superconducting physics perspective and attempts to demonstrate that they can be tolerated to a much higher degree than previously believed and may even be utilized as tools to control the behavior of supercond ...
Benjamin Dacus
Benjamin Dacus is a PhD student whose research interests include the study of how structural materials respond in nuclear reactor environments and the fabrication of new radiation-tolerant materials. Ben has made significant contributions to a first-of-its-kind in situ ion irradiation transient grating spectroscopy (TGS) called I3TGS, enabling precise replication of conditions in the first commercial fusion power reactors, and increasing data throughput by a factor of over 1,000,000 using a M ...
Artittaya (Tiya) Boonkird
Artittaya (Tiya) Boonkird is a PhD candidate whose primary research interest is in developing machine learning models to predict material properties, with an emphasis on materials containing defects. Specifically, Tiya is examining how the introduction of defects into materials may enhance their mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties, and how these defects can be controlled to enable useful applications, such as in the semiconductor industry. A MathWorks Fellowship will support Tiyaâ ...
James H. Zhang
James H. Zhang is a PhD candidate whose research concentrates on efficient, economical strategies for desalinating water using porous, interfacial evaporators. This technology utilizes solar energy to evaporate water from brackish sources wicked inside of a interfacial evaporator. The vapor can then be collected and condensed into clean water. Specifically, James is exploring the thermodynamics of solar-driven evaporation inside porous materials, particularly in the case of super-thermal evap ...
Duo Xu
Duo Xu is a PhD candidate whose research focuses on the development of multifunctional, composite materials for space applications. Specifically, he seeks to create materials that meet the performance requirements of this extreme environment, including shielding from ionizing radiation, thermal and mechanical stability under extreme vibrations, and large temperature swings. With the support of a MathWorks Fellowship he will advance on-going research to innovate new materials with the required ...
Reimar Weissbach
Reimar Weissbach is a PhD and MBA candidate whose research integrates advanced computation, manufacturing, and management science. With the support of his first MathWorks Fellowship, Reimar conducted innovative research in metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes and developed novel spreading strategies for fine and highly cohesive metal powders. His second MathWorks Fellowship will enable him to expand this work to the laser melting process in metal AM to improve the throughput and qualit ...
Eric Kevin Wang
Eric Kevin Wang is a PhD candidate whose robotics research focuses on real-time reactive control to advance efficient and natural, autonomous manipulation. Specifically, Eric seeks to develop efficient ways for robots to transport objects through dynamic, nonprehensile movement and remove the inefficiencies of traditional quasistatic models of manipulation. This involves creating new techniques for geometric modeling of dynamic frictional interaction that are amenable to fast trajectory optim ...
Tony Tohme
Tony Tohme is a PhD candidate whose research interests focus on reliable and interpretable machine learning, with a particular emphasis on white-box modeling and symbolic regression. While supported by his first MathWorks Fellowship, Tony conducted promising work in probabilistic machine learning to improve predictive uncertainty estimation in neural networks for supervised learning tasks. His second MathWorks Fellowship will enable him to pursue several innovative projects in machine learnin ...
Wenhui Tang
Wenhui Tang is a PhD candidate whose research interests lie in understanding complex biological systems using physical and mechanical tools. Specifically, her research focuses on spatiotemporal cellular behaviors in three-dimensional multicellular systems, such as cell migration, packing, and cell-matrix interaction during development and maturation. Wenhui has made extensive use of MathWorks tools in several path-breaking projects exploring cell behaviors, including investigating the role of ...