MEMBERS | Group for Extreme Mechanics and Materials Science (GEMMS)

Bio: Prof. Dongare received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2008. He carried out postdoctoral research through the National Research Council (NRC) Research Associateship Award from the US Army Research Office and as a Senior Research Associate at North Carolina State University. He joined the University of Connecticut as an Assistant Professor in the MSE Department in August 2012. Avinash has been the recipient of the 2015 Young Leaders Professional Development Award from The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) and the 2015 National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.

Bio: Ke Ma obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Material Science and Technology from University of Birmingham in 2016, then his master degree in Material Science and Engineering from University of Pennsylvania in 2018. Ke joined CMMG as a graduate student (PhD program) in Department of Material science and Engineering at UCONN in Fall 2018. His current research focuses on the understanding of the role of nanoscale interfaces on the deformation and failure response under dynamic loading conditions at the atomic scales.

Bio: Ching Chen received his Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and System Science from National Tsing Hua University in 2014 and his Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from National Chiao Tung University in 2016. After working as a Process Engineer at TSMC in 2018 and as a Research Assistant at National Chiao Tung University in 2019, Ching joined CMMG as a graduate student (PhD program) in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at UCONN in fall 2019. His current research focuses on atomic scale modeling of metallic materials under extreme environments.

Bio: Phillip received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 2022. He joined CMMG in the fall of 2022 as a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCONN. His current research focuses on atomic scale modeling of the deformation and failure response of multiphase metal microstructures under shock loading conditions and characterization of the plasticity contributions using simulated x-ray diffraction.

Bio: Roshan Sebastian received his bachelor’s degree from RIT, Kottayam, Kerala, in Electronics and Communication Engineering and a master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India, in Materials Science and Engineering with a gold medal. He then worked at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo, before joining CMMG as a graduate student (Ph.D. program) in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCONN in the fall of 2022. His current research focuses on the modeling of laser-material interactions across multiple scales.

Bio: Evan received his bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Connecticut in 2021. Upon graduating he went to work with Response Technologies, a subsidiary of Bell Flight, for 3 years as a senior engineer, focusing on product development and design. He returned to UConn and joined GEMMS in the fall of 2024 as a graduate student pursuing a PhD in materials science and engineering. His current research focuses on modeling the phase transformation and deformation twinning behavior in BCC metals.