Ryan Hurley, CMEDE PI and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has received the annual Mentor of the Year award from the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP).

The award is presented to a mentor within one of the AEOP apprenticeship programs who goes beyond the call of duty to support students in their STEM educations and career pursuits. Hurley has been recognized for his dedication to challenging his students to “think and work like engineers. [During a remote apprenticeship, he] went above and beyond to overcome the challenges and make it a positive, transformative experience for his mentees. In addition to being dedicated to the growth and development of his mentees, he has sought to spread the word about AEOP and encourage other scientists and engineers to become mentors as well.” View the full award ceremony.

Hurley was selected from over 450 mentors from U.S. Army research laboratories, centers, and universities across the United States who hosted AEOP apprentices in 2020. He mentored a student who expanded his Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments (MEDE) ceramic materials research.  The student employed machine learning to investigate particle micromechanics in granular materials and develop a model to predict particle rearrangements.  Due to COVID-19, the apprenticeship was conducted remotely.

Hurley’s research group develops and uses novel experiments and numerical models to study the mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of granular materials, rocks, concrete, and ceramics. His group is a frequent user of synchrotron X-ray facilities around the world, at which they seek to see and understand deformation mechanisms in materials at the smallest length and time scales.

The AEOP is run by the U.S. Army and aims to provide students and teachers with STEM programs to promote STEM subjects and nurture STEM talents from kindergarten through college. Learn more about AEOP and its programs.

Congratulations to Jason Parker, a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who is one of this year’s recipient of the American Society for Composites (ASC) PhD Scholarship!

First awarded in 2000, the annual graduate student research scholarship grant program was created for formally enrolled Ph.D. students in engineering or science whose dissertation research is focused on some aspect of composite materials. Up to four awards will be given, each consisting of two parts – one portion to support the student’s research and the other to register and attend the ASC Technical Conference.

Parker accepted his award at the ASC banquet on September 25, 2018 at the ASC Technical Conference in Seattle, Washington.

Congratulations to our 2018 Research and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (REAP) interns for completing their summer projects with HEMI! Interns Taylor Beverly (Eleanor Roosevelt HS), Chimmuanya Iheanyi-Igwe (Howard HS), Grace Kim (Poolesville HS), and Brook Mesfin (Walter Johnson HS) each completed a project under the mentorship of a graduate student/postdoctoral fellow in one of the following JHU departments: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics & Astronomy. Earlier this month, the interns presented a summary of their projects to an audience containing members of HEMI, members of the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program, their mentors, and their friends and family.

From left: KT Ramesh (HEMI), Taylor Beverly (REAP Intern), Brook Mesfin (REAP Intern), Grace Kim (REAP Intern), Chimmuanya Iheanyi-Igwe (REAP Intern), and Louie Lopez (AEOP).

2018 REAP interns and their mentors
From left: Kimberly Andes (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering), Taylor Beverly (REAP Intern), Brook Mesfin (REAP Intern), Thomas O’Connor (Dept. of Physics and Astronomy), Grace Kim (REAP Intern), Chimmuanya Iheanyi-Igwe (REAP Intern), Noah Wade (Dept. of Civil Engineering). Not pictured: Joel Clemmer (Dept. of Physics and Astronomy), Aakash Bangalore Satish (Dept. of Civil Engineering).

REAP is an Army Educational Outreach Program that places talented high school students in research internships area colleges and universities. In REAP, a summer STEM program, students work on a hands-on research project under the direct supervision of a mentor, exposing them to the real world of research and allowing them to gain valuable mentorship and learn about education and career opportunities in STEM. Each year, over 120 students participate in REAP nationwide at 42 participating universities. Approximately 90% of the REAP interns pursue STEM studies at the post-secondary level.

Kevin Hemker, Alonzo G. Decker Chair and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and PI within the Ceramics CMRG, has been installed as the 2018 President of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS).

Hemker took office at the TMS Annual Meeting, held from March 11-15 in Phoenix, Arizona. At the meeting’s award ceremony, he offered the audience a preview of his plans for the coming year, “My vision for TMS involves both staying the course and pursuing opportunities for change.”

In his remarks, Hemker acknowledged his long career at Johns Hopkins, as well as the university’s promising work in the materials field, “I am also proud of my academic family-tree and in particular the branch that is growing at Johns Hopkins. Working with so many talented young scientists and witnessing the digital revolution that is upon us, I am convinced that there has never, ever been a better time to be a materials professional.”

A professional member of TMS since 1991, Hemker has served two terms on the TMS Board of Directors as Public & Governmental Affairs (P&GA) Director from 2008 to 2013. He has also contributed as a member of the Titanium, Strategic Planning, and P&GA committees. In 2014, he was elected as a TMS Fellow.

Registration is now open for Experimental Methods for High Strain Rates, a HEMI short course being taught by Professor K. T. Ramesh.  The course will provide an overview of modern experimental methods for the characterization of the high strain rate deformation of materials, including metals, ceramics, geomaterials, polymers and composites. The first half of the course will provide a survey of the fundamental theory associated with high strain rate experimentation, while the second half of the course will focus on the manifestation of that theory through the major experimental methods in the laboratory. The course will demonstrate some of these experimental methods through hands-on exercises. A significant emphasis will be on the associated instrumentation and data analysis.

This short course will take place on March 29-30 on the JHU Homewood Campus. Learn more about the event and register here.

HEMI short courses are intensive, multi-day, educational courses taught by a master of his/her field that are appropriate for professionals, researchers, and graduate students from industry, government, national laboratories, and academia. We ask the leaders of the field to teach, to integrate both principles and practice, and to focus on the topics they find most exciting. For a listing of upcoming short courses, click here.

Congratulations to CMEDE student researchers Mark Schaefer (Rutgers University) and Vignesh Kannan (Johns Hopkins University) for receiving awards for their research posters at this year’s Mach Conference.

Schaefer received the Judge’s Choice award and Kannan received the People’s Choice award. Well done, gentlemen!

Congratulations to mechanical engineering senior Erez Krimsky on being awarded a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship!

Krimsky will graduate from Johns Hopkins University having done research at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, the United States Army Research Lab, and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. His research at JHU has centered on understanding how fractures form and propagate in ceramic armor material. In the fall he will begin a PhD in mechanical engineering with a focus in robotics.

This NSF program, the oldest of its kind in the country, recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who pursue research-based post-baccalaureate degrees at accredited institutions. Fellows receive three years of monetary support during a five-year fellowship period, and have international research and professional development opportunities.

Congratulations to Dr. Kelvin Xie, an Assistant Research Scientist working with Professor Kevin Hemker, on winning the 2016 TMS First Place Prize in the Best Poster Competition for Characterization of Minerals, Metals and Materials. In collaboration with Prof. Vlad Domnich and Prof. Rich Haber at Rutgers and Dr. Jim McCauley at ARL, their work, titled “Microstructural Characterization of Boron-rich Boron Carbide by Transmission Electron Microscopy”, unraveled that the formation of nano-scale planar defects and the attained mechanical properties of boron carbide can be controlled by carefully tuning the chemical stoichiometry. Boron carbide is an attractive body armor material and understanding the roles of stoichiometry provides an additional means to design even lighter and tougher body armor.

The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) is an international professional organization for materials scientists and engineers that encompasses the entire range of materials and engineering. It was founded in 1945 and is one of the largest materials science societies with over 12000 members and 4000 attendees for the annual meeting. For the symposium, 92 posters were reviewed and the best poster award is judged on the technical merit, originality, potential impact on the field and clarity of presentation.

Congratulations to Jaafar El-Awady, HEMI faculty member and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who been selected by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Materials Division to receive the 2014 Orr Early Career Award. El-Awady will receive the award in a formal presentation at ASME’s Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in mid-November in Montreal.

This award was established in 2004 in recognition of early career research excellence in the general area of Failure of Materials, with particular emphasis on experimental, computational, and/or theoretical aspects of fatigue, fracture, or creep. Formal presentation of the award will take place at the Materials Division Award Ceremony/Reception during the ASME Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, November 14-20 in Montreal, Canada. During the ceremony, Prof. El-Awady will deliver an award lecture.

El-Awady’s research interests include multiscale materials modeling, damage and fracture mechanisms of materials in mechanical design, material degradation in extreme environments, nano-materials and structures, impact dynamics and wave propagation (See: http://web1.johnshopkins.edu/comp_mat). El-Awady joined the Whiting School of Engineering in 2010. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Cairo University and his doctorate in aerospace engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles.