Transdisciplinary Nanostructured Materials
Colorado School of Mines
Transdisciplinary Nanostructured Materials Research Team
The College of Applied Science and Engineering at Colorado School of Mines brings together science and engineering departments and interdisciplinary programs with the same emphasis on excellent education and training and state-of-the-art research that addresses the challenges that face our world.
CASE includes the departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemistry, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and Physics, and interdisciplinary graduate programs in Materials Science and Nuclear Science and Engineering.
The Science
Our science is based on the understanding that sufficiently large shear deformations, which we impose through High Shear Deformation (HSD) processes, cause material rotations that form specific crystallographic textures, non-equilibrium grain boundary structures, and grain sizes refined to below 70 nm. In multiphase alloys, such large shear deformations also cause shear mixing and enhance diffusion, thereby increasing homogeneity and altering the kinetics of phase nucleation, growth, and transformation. Through combinations of computational modeling and iterative cycles of microstructure characterization and material processing, we design non-isothermal intense shear processes to exploit our understanding of these interlinked phenomena. Because of our special interest in biomedical materials, we extend our knowledge of nanoscale microstructures and internal interfaces to study surfaces and environmental interactions with physiological environments at the cellular level.
The horizons we explore, especially in medical material systems, touch on issues in basic biomaterials science, but we also extend our experimental findings to develop larger scale material processing methods to assess the manufacturability and clinical viability of novel nanostructured materials.
The productivity of the team is not left to chance but is instead shaped by deliberate implementation of principles emerging from organizational development and industrial psychology research to maximize team dynamics and individual effectiveness within a diverse environment. Research team members experience mentoring, dyadic pairing to harness interpersonal synergies and aspects of living systems theory. They also experience training and implementation of key business practices such as Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and formalized project management.
We intentionally work closely with our sponsors to learn from their perspectives and experience. Research projects are often initiated and championed by the highest performing scientists, engineers, and leaders from sponsor organizations. These individuals bring cutting-edge practices from their environments into our midst. These influences and relationships help prepare student team members for their careers.