Can you share a bit about your background?

I did my undergrad and Ph.D. in Germany, both in physics. For my Ph.D. work, I ran simulations that answer questions in solid-state physics around transparent conducting oxides. It's not some abstract model that we're solving; we're always looking at real materials like magnesium oxide, and now also graphene.

In Europe, this type of research is typically done in physics departments, but in the US, it happens more in materials science departments. The interdisciplinary nature of this work allows me to work with experimentalists and bring in colleagues from other departments.

What initially got you interested in this field?

I initially wanted to do something with computers, but in my last year of high school, we had to do a week-long project with a researcher. I found a physicist at our local university and worked with him on a project on special relativity. At the end of this project, he said he was happy with the results and that I should look into studying physics. 

A recommendation from a friend led me to do research in a computational solid state physics group where I applied simulations to study materials. I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it through my Ph.D. studies.

Could you explain about the specific area you work in?

In my research group, we look at electronic materials and materials with quantum properties, including spin. The quantum mechanics of electrons, spins and ions in materials determine and affect the materials’ properties. We specifically focus on simulating the processes that occur when you excite the material.

The more traditional applications would be electronic devices like solar cells, light-emitting diodes or lasers. More recently, there is a lot of promise in the quantum realm, which opens the door to many materials science questions. Finding the right materials for quantum information could help materials scientists to understand fundamental questions or even lead us to use these improved or new materials.

You're a big advocate in promoting STEM education for all. Can you talk about your involvement for those efforts?

It’s really a goal of mine and my colleagues to improve diversity, equity and inclusion. For the After School Academy, I worked very closely with Cecilia Leal (associate professor of materials science and engineering) to formulate solid programming. Cecilia and I are both motivated to address DEI issues, so we sought support from the IDEA Institute, in their GIANT program for grassroots initiatives.

With the African School on Electronic Structure methods and Applications (ASESMA), my group teaches materials engineering methods to African students. The program is in part funded by NSF, and my trip was supported by the Illinois MRSEC. This year, we went to Rwanda, taught people about electronic structure simulations and worked on a project together. They asked insightful questions, listened to the lectures and did an excellent job participating and discussing. We hope that such activities will also help improve DEI in STEM education, which is a very long-term problem. 

What's your most memorable teaching moment?

I taught a new grad class last semester on machine learning. To illustrate this, I came up with “the bowtie project.” I made up a random equation and ran the equation every morning to see if I would wear a bowtie to class or not. Every day the class met, I would either wear or not wear a bowtie, and the students recorded the outcome. I gave them no other data points, but I told them a few factors I used to determine my choice, like the temperature or the wind speed of the day. I let them use machine learning to figure out the additional factors that I considered.

As a final project, the students needed to predict whether I would wear a bowtie on the last day of class. To do this, they needed to collect data for the semester, clean up and format the data, and train a machine-learning model. It worked out pretty well, and the predictions were better than what would have been pure guessing.

What advice would you give to aspiring materials engineers or educators?

Put the time into the classes. Try to get as much knowledge as you can and learn how to do things yourself and reliably. Get those skills because that's what you're going to use later on in your career.

It’s also important to find good mentors, who introduce you to new ways of thinking about a problem and finding interesting problems. I would recommend spending time thinking about this by yourself, looking at the literature, and talking to leaders in the field about this. These leaders are not far - you can find them in our very own department! 

Take some risks. When you pick your research theme, you can go a bit outside your comfort zone. If you have a faraway goal and the road there seems painful, maybe it's worthwhile trying it anyway. And don’t overthink this step too much. If you're doing a degree in materials engineering here at The Grainger College of Engineering, you’ll get an excellent education that will make you flexible. I’m sure you’ll do great, even if you're not 100% sure what you're going to do 10 years down the road. 

You pilot small airplanes. How did that happen?

I always wanted to be a pilot, but I never thought about it too much until we hired Axel Hoffman. During his interview, he told us he flew himself down that morning from Chicago. That was the first time I thought flying was not out of reach or completely crazy. Since we have a local flight school, I started taking lessons and I earned my license in 2021. Just last week I flew myself down to Nashville for a meeting – and it was awesome.

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